Kamal says no arrests made, some detained over Pahela Baishakh sexual assault

The state minister for home affairs has explained his remarks made in Parliament over the reported arrests of some of the men who molested several women during the Bengali New Year celebrations.

Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on Tuesday said, “None of the identified molesters has been arrested over the incident of sexual assault. Replying to an MP’s question, I either said or wanted to say that several suspects have been detained.”
 
“Three of them have been sent to court under Section 54 (of the Code of Criminal Procedure),” he told a press briefing at the home ministry.
 
This section empowers police to arrest anyone without a warrant.
 
The junior minister on Monday told Parliament that several of the molesters were ‘nabbed and handed over to the law enforcers’.
 
But several hours later, police said no arrests had been made over the Apr 14 incident at the Dhaka University that had caused much furore across Bangladesh.
 
Contradictory statements from the both parties then shrouded the issue. Media reports on the matter also led to harsh criticisms of Kamal and police on social networking sites.
 
The latest remarks by the state minister, however, have not cleared the confusion since police are yet to confirm the detention.

A group of youths sexually harassed several women near the TSC on the Dhaka University campus during the Pahela Baishakh celebrations on Apr 14.
 
Several people were injured while trying to stop them.
 
Four of the culprits were allegedly caught and handed over to police, but were later released.
 
Police admitted to letting them off and blamed it on an officer, who was later removed from Shahbagh Police Station.
 
The university and police faced sharp criticisms, as the perpetrators remained at large even a month after the incident.
 
Then, on May 17, police spotted eight of the culprits from CCTV footage and announced a Tk 100,000 reward for anyone helping to detain them.
 
But police say they have not got any specific lead from anyone.

Kamal's Monday remarks
 
State Minister for Home Kamal on Monday told Parliament, “The IGP had announced rewards for those identified, and some of them have been arrested.”
 
“They’ve been handed over to the law enforcers. The rest will also be arrested,” he added.
 
But several hours later, DMP Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam told bdnews24.com: "I can confirm without any doubt that no one has been arrested in connection with that incident."
 
Regarding the state minister’s remarks, he said some TV stations beamed photos of some people and claimed they were the ones involved in the incident.
 
But two men and a woman among them had met police to say they were there only to celebrate, said the DMP spokesperson. “We’ve found proof of their claim that they were not involved in the harassment of women.”
 
However, Kamal could not say anything concrete when bdnews24.com approached him with the police denial.
 
“I only gave Parliament the information I got from the IGP and police,” he said.
 
“Some were nabbed over that incident and some were released, while several were sent to court. Some of them were sent to jail from court. All of them were suspects,” he added.

When told the investigators of the case, the Detective Branch of police, were unable to confirm his claim, Kamal told bdnews24.com: “DB did not make the arrests.”
 
He, however, would not say which of the law-enforcing agencies had made the arrests.