We came to court to protect our children from bullets: SC lawyer Manzur Al Matin

Supreme Court (SC) lawyers filed the writ petition seeking directives for law enforcement agencies not to shoot at quota reform protesters during their programmes in a bid to protect their children from being shot, Advocate Manzur Al Matin said today (30 July).

“Anyone that can stop the shooting of students should step up…We have come to the High Court to protect our children,” the human rights activist and SC lawyer told the media after today’s hearing in the High Court.

The High Court today said keeping the six quota protesters under the custody of the Detective Branch (DB) of police was unlawful.

“Whoever you detain, you make them sit at the dining table. Who is asking you to do these things? Do not mock the nation in this manner”

The HC bench

“They did not seek safety. Keeping them under custody like this is unlawful. They should be either released or produced before the court as arrested,” said the HC bench headed by Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam during the hearing on the writ.

Supreme Court Lawyers Ainun Nahar Siddiqa and Manzur Al Matin filed the petition yesterday (29 July), keeping the cabinet secretary, secretary of the home ministry, inspector general of police and others concerned as respondents to the petition.

Advocate Manzur Al Matin told reporters today, “On Monday morning at 9:30am, the day we filed the writ petition, Advocate Ainun Nahar said ‘if the children are on the streets again, the police will shoot again, can’t we do something about it?’ From this one question, we come forward with our accountability as lawyers. Drafting the petition in half an hour, here we are. We have said we should try to stop this shooting in any way we can. We are here to protect our children.”

During the hearing today, the HC bench said it was ashamed of the violence and deaths during the quota reform protests, adding that “none of us are doing our constitutional duty”.

“What the police will do is clearly stated in the Code of Criminal Procedure [CRPC]. But none of us are doing our constitutional duty. We are ashamed of the violence and deaths of people during the anti-quota movement,” the bench said.

The hearing concluded today, and the court set tomorrow as the next date for the hearing.

A hearing on the petition took place yesterday in front of the HC bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice SM Masud Hossain Dolon.

Then, the HC expressed its indignation over the release of a video showing six coordinators of the quota reform movement dining at the Detective Branch office in Dhaka, terming the incident a “mockery” of the nation.

“Whoever you detain, you make them sit at the dining table. Who is asking you to do these things? Do not mock the nation in this manner,” the HC bench told the state counsels during a hearing of the petition.

The coordinators currently under the DB custody are: Nahid Islam, Sarjis Alam, Hasnat Abdullah, Abu Baker Majumdar, Asif Mahmud and Nusrat Tabassum.

All of them were picked up by the DB on Saturday (27 July) for ‘security reasons’.