Schoolboy Sourav’s family to fight for justice

The family of nine-year-old Shahadat Hossain Sourav are hopeful of getting justice even after Awami League’s Gaibandha MP Manjurul Islam Liton, accused of shooting the boy, has come out on bail.

Fourth-grader Sourav returned home on Oct 26 after being treated for about a month at Rangpur Medical College Hospital.

“We’re not afraid. There’s security at our home,” his mother Selina Begum told bdnews24.com when asked about the MP’s bail.

“We are hopeful of justice,” she said.

Sourav’s father Saju Mia accused the MP of shooting his son in the leg on Oct 2. The MP was also accused in another case of vandalism and looting.

MP Liton was finally arrested in Dhaka on Oct 14 but those demonstrating for his punishment allege the MP’s supporters have been issuing threats.

“Liton’s men started threatening me even before he was freed on bail,” Sundarganj municipal Mayor and local Awami League leader Abdullah Al Mamun, one of the demonstrators, told bdnews24.com.

“Now I feel insecure.”

A Gaibandha court granted the Awami League MP bail on Sunday ahead of the Parliament session.

He is in Dhaka to attend the session, his wife Syeda Khurshid Jahan Smriti said.

She rejected allegations of threats to the protesters. “That is baseless,” she told bdnews24.com.

MP Liton was released from jail on Sunday after spending three weeks behind bars.