Quota reform protests: Rashed, Faruk, Suhel and seven other protesters released on bail

Ten students involved in the quota reform movement have been released on bail the day before Eid.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 21 August 2018, 12:05 PM
Updated : 21 August 2018, 12:05 PM

They were released at 12pm on Tuesday from the Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj, Senior Jail Superintendent Iqbal Kabir Chowdhury told bdnews24.com.

Protest leaders Rashed Khan, Faruk Hasan and APM Suhel are among those released.

The others bailed on Monday are Sakhawat Hossain Ratul, Moshiur Rahman, Atiqur Rahman, Saidur Rahman, Jasim Uddin, Masud Sardar and Tariqul Islam.

A group of students and job seekers had protested for several months calling for reforms to the quota system for public sector jobs.

The protesters had initially called off their demonstrations in response to assurances from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the quota system would be ‘abolished’ but decided to resume them until the government issued an official notice on the matter.

Several cases were started over clashes between the protesters and law enforcers on the Dhaka University campus and attack on the vice-chancellor’s house during the protests for reforms to quotas in government jobs in April.

Leaders of the Bangladesh Council to Protect General Students’ Rights, which was organising the protests, were arrested one by one from the beginning of July.

Joint Convenor Rashed was arrested in an ICT Act case on July 2. Faruk was arrested on the following day while Suhel from Jagannath University on July 12.

Twenty student protesters secured bail on Monday.

The others were Masum Alam Masud, Rakibul Hasan, Abu Sayeed alias Fazle Rabbi, Abu Sayeed, Ali Hossain, Yusuf Chowdhury, Saidul Islam Towhid, Alamgir Hossain, Jashim Uddin Akash and Mahbubur Rahman Arman.

Another Dhaka court, however, rejected the bail petition of Eden College student Lutfunnahar Luma, a leader of the council.

She was arrested in Sirajganj on Aug 15 for allegedly spreading rumours on Facebook amidst the recent student protests for safe roads.