NHRC moves HC for Tanvir’s bail in Sagar-Runi case

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has moved High Court, seeking bail for Md Tanvir Rahman, arrested and currently in jail over the murder of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi.

The bench of Justices Mirza Hussain Haider and Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar asked the petitioner to file an appeal against the judicial court’s bail rejection order at the regular High Court bench after adjourning the hearing on Sunday.

The plaintiff’s lawyer Fawzia Karim Firoz later told reporters that the judicial court, on June 26, had rejected Tanvir’s bail plea.

“Now we’ll move the regular High Court bench against the order. If we are rejected there, too, we’ll come back to this bench with that order’s copy.”

Tanvir Rahman, believed to be a family friend of the slain journalist couple, was the deputy manager of the Scholastica School in Dhaka.

After police presented in court after his arrest in 2012, he was sent to seven days’ remand in Oct 10 that year.

He is in jail since then.

His lawyer said the judicial court in 2012 had rejected the man’s bail plea. Later, he moved the High Court. But on June 2 last year, a bench dismissed his plea on technical grounds.

Later, a vacation bench granted Tanvir bail for a brief period, referring the matter to a regular bench. But the man was not released as the jail had not received the order copy.

The regular bench did not extend his bail.

Tanvir’s lawyers returned to the High Court for a second time when the judicial court rejected his bail plea again.

But the High Court earlier in April this year dismissed the plea yet again, citing the same reason.

Meanwhile, Tanvir’s father, Mahbubur Rahman, in February this year, appealed to the NHRC, seeking its help to get his son released from jail. He said his son was being held in prison without trial.

NHRC and its Chairman Mizanur Rahman filed the petition, hearing of which was adjourned on Sunday.

It sought a rule asking why Tanvir’s ‘illegal detention’ would not be declared illegal. It also asked why he would not be presented before the High Court to confirm whether his detention was illegal or not.

The petition sought another rule for the submission of a report by RAB additional director general, case investigation officer RAB’s senior assistant director and Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station OC on Tanvir’s connections to the twin murders within a week.

Lawyer Fawzia Karim said, “We told the court that there are no specific charges against him. His name was not even in the FIR. He could not provide (the police) with any information during his remand. Yet, he’s not given bail.”

On Feb 11, 2012, Maasranga Television News Editor Sagar Sarowar and ATN Bangla Senior Reporter Meherun Runi were brutally murdered in their West Rajabazar rented apartment in capital Dhaka.

Their only son, Mahir Sarowar Megh, survived.

Several days later, police claimed ‘remarkable progress’ in the probe. But they were nowhere near arresting the killers and admitted failure afterwards.

After that, the High Court in April 2012, ordered the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) to investigate the murders.

After taking charge, the elite force had sent DNA samples of 16 suspects to the US along with a knife and samples of clothes as evidence.

The RAB has so far questioned over 120 people, but the killers are yet to be identified.

However, the home ministry, in October last year, had claimed credit for cracking the case, producing a list of eight killers, it claimed, had been identified.

Neither journalists nor the families of the victims found that version credible, as five of them were accused in the murder of Dr Nitai Chandra Dey, a leader of a doctors’ professional body.