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A Bangladesh court has granted bail to eight activists from the Dhaka University branch of the Students’ Rights Council, including the group’s President Aktar Hossain and General Secretary Akram Hossain.
Dhaka Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Syeda Jhuma heard their bail petitions in a case filed by two Chhatra League leaders and granted their bail on Monday, reports bdnews24.com.
This means the activists will be freed from jail, said their lawyer Mujahidul Islam.
The other activists who received bail are Saddam Hossain, Abdul Quader, Tariqul Islam, Asif Mahmud, Jahid Hossain and Sanaullah.
The court set Nov 14 and Nov 20 to hear the bail petitions of 16 other suspects in two separate cases.
Shahbagh police arrested the eight suspects on Oct 6. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shahidul Islam sent them to jail the following day.
He then set Oct 11 for the hearing of the bail petitions. On Oct 11, the court scrapped the bail petitions of all 24 suspects. It also granted single-day remand to interrogate Aktar and Akram in police custody on Oct 20. However, the court scrapped the remand petitions for the other 22 suspects.
On Oct 25, the court dismissed both remand and bail petitions.
On Oct 7, members of the Students’ Rights Council were holding an event in front of the Raju Statue at Dhaka University to commemorate the third anniversary of the murder of BUET student Abrar Fahad when they were attacked by the Chhatra League.
Members of the Chhatra League attacked the group again at Dhaka Medical College. Police from Shahbagh Police Station arrested the 24 activists with support from the Chhatra League afterwards.
Two central Chhatra League leaders – Nazim Uddin and Aminur Rahman – then filed two cases against the activists, claiming they had attacked Chhatra League members.
The council drew attention of the media with its 2018 movement that forced the government to remove quotas from public jobs. The council went on to stage protests on other occasions. One of its leaders, Nurul Haque Nur, was elected vice-president of Dhaka University Central Students’ Union. He recently formed a party with some other politicians.