2020: An eventful year for Bangladesh, defined by pandemic and scandals

There is no doubt that 2020 will go down in history as the year of a deadly pandemic when the fear of death accompanied the people at every step. In Bangladesh, many saw the pandemic as an opportunity to enrich themselves as various scams related to the outbreak were uncovered.

Meanwhile, issues like the scandal involving Shamima Noor Papia, an expelled leader of Jubo Mohila League who allegedly ran escort services at the Westin hotel in Dhaka, the COVID testing scam which brought dubious businessman Mohammad Shahed under the spotlight, along with the killing of retired major Sinha Md Rashed Khan by the police, rank among the biggest talking points of the year.

Other shocking incidents include an attack on an Upazila executive officer in Dinajpur and the killing of Anisul Karim Shipon, a senior assistant superintendent of police, by employees of Mind Aid mental health hospital, among others.

The government had to raise the maximum punishment for rape to death from life term to stop an “epidemic” of sexual violence against women and girls. Several spells of flood added to the damage caused by the pandemic to the economy.

Along with the families who lost their loved ones to COVID-19, Bangladesh also mourned those who lost died in the air-conditioner blasts in a Narayanganj mosque and the Buriganga launch capsize.

Animal lovers’ were also up in arms this year when the Dhaka city authorities announced plans to relocate stray dogs from the capital, reminding residents about the importance of rethinking city life.

While mainstream politics was effectively ‘housebound’, religious zealots’ threats to pull down Bangabandhu’s statues stoked fresh fear of communal violence.

Like other countries, sports and culture had suffered a harsh setback in Bangladesh. And it will take longer for the country to recover from the economic damage caused by the pandemic.

But the installation of the final span of the Padma Bridge by the end of the year sent a message that all was not lost as the country edged closer fulfilling a long-held ‘dream’. As the country prepares to usher in a new year against the backdrop of a raging coronavirus pandemic, news of the arrival of a vaccine has also been a timely shot in the arm for most.

With the global pandemic upending people’s health, everyday life, education and economy, a good number of different incidents have marked the year 2020 for Bangladesh. Here is a look back on some of this year’s most significant events.

THE CORONAVIRUS

The coronavirus pandemic has itself been the biggest issue the world over, with Bangladesh reporting its first cases on Mar 8 after the virus was first detected in China by the end of last year.

After nearly 10 more months, Bangladesh has more than half a million confirmed coronavirus infections with over 7,500 deaths from COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus.

On the eve of Independence Day, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged the nation not to be afraid but to confront the situation with courage and keep faith in the government’s initiatives. She asked the people to follow the suggestions of health experts, such as wearing a mask, keep physical distance, avoid crowds and wash hands with water and soap or sanitiser frequently.

All educational institutes were already shut on Mar 17, considering the fact that the pathogen spreads mostly among crowds in enclosed spaces. A nationwide shutdown of the public transport system followed the announcement of general holidays as parts of desperate efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus. In other words, Bangladesh went into a complete lockdown.

The number of coronavirus cases, however, began to rise sharply in the first week of April. On Jun 30, the government reported 64 deaths in its daily COVID-19 briefing, the highest death toll in a 24-hour period. The highest number of 4,019 coronavirus cases was detected on Jul 2.    

The working-class people suffered immensely during the lockdown while businesses remained shut. The government took steps to support the people, but the closure of factories for a long time and a huge number of job losses worsened the situation.

To save livelihoods, Bangladesh began easing the restrictions by the end of May. Offices reopened on May 31 after the 66-day lockdown. The government also allowed public transports to resume services. Flight operations resumed gradually as well while the centres of entertainment were being opened in August.

After Independence Day, Bangladeshis spent the festivals of Bengali New Year, Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Azha, Durga Puja and other occasions under restrictions. The state programmes had to be held at a limited scale. The Mujib Year celebrations went mostly online.

Although almost everything has reopened, educational institutions have remained shut. Besides the HSC tests, the PEC and JSC exams were scrapped along with annual exams.

Now the government hopes to get the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine in January or February, but it will take a long time to inoculate sufficient portion of the population. So, the rules on wearing a mask, keeping physical distance and sanitising hands remain unchanged in 2021.

WHO WAS THE MOST NOTORIOUS?

Like every year, a number of people were arrested in 2020 for various crimes, but a few characters in particular grabbed the headlines for their misdeeds.

The arrest of ruling Awami League operative Shamima Noor Papia and her husband Mafizur Rahman alias Sumon Chowdhury at Shahjalal International Airport on Feb 22 got small media coverage initially, but the stories on the ways they made a fortune drew huge attention of the people shortly afterwards. The incident also created a storm in the political arena at the time.

She paid tens of millions of takas in bills to Westin Dhaka from the money earned from her high-class escort services based at the 5-star hotel, the RAB said.

Besides two apartments in Dhaka, the couple own two flats worth around Tk 10 million in Narsingdi and cars, according to the RAB. They have invested Tk 10 million in a car shop named Car Exchange in Dhaka’s Tejgaon, and Tk 4 million in KMC Car Wash and Auto Solutions.

The couple have made the fortunes also by helping criminals grab land, trading in drugs and arms, and a series of other crimes, the RAB said.

The ruling party affiliate for young women, Jubo Mohila League, expelled her at once.

But the names of the people who backed her, the customers of her escort services, with whom she took photos and shared on Facebook made their way to media reports, dragging the discussions further.

The RAB charged Papia and Sumon in three cases over counterfeit currency, illegal arms and drugs. They were also charged with money laundering by the Criminal Investigation Department of the police.

The Anti-Corruption Commission, or ACC, prosecuted them on charges of acquiring illegal assets worth Tk 62.4 million.

Meanwhile, a court sentenced the couple to 20 years in prison in the case over illegal arms.

The stories about another self-proclaimed Awami League operative, Mohammad Shahed alias Shahed Karim, chairman of Regent Group, came to the spotlight when the RAB raided the Regent Hospital and shut it down for swindling thousands of unsuspecting patients out of millions of takas on the pretext of coronavirus treatment. It also issued false coronavirus test reports.

Shahed had weaselled his way into the circle of society's power brokers without much of a struggle, all the while keeping his shady business dealings and implication in dozens of fraud cases under wraps.

Claiming himself to be a leader of the ruling party, Shahed became the notorious fraudster of the year. His photos with top politicians drew the attention of many.

Days after the raid on the hospital, the RAB arrested Shahed at the Satkhira border when he was trying to flee to India.

Since Shahed’s arrest, he has been implicated in more than 20 cases, with the charges ranging from fraudulence, possession of illegal arms and involvement in the drug trade.

Police seized a loaded pistol and drugs from a car Shahed used during a raid on a house in Uttara with him in tow on Jul 18.

A case was subsequently started at Uttara West Police Station under the firearms law. The Detective Branch of Police later submitted the charges on Jul 30, naming 14 witnesses in the case.

Police escort Mohammad Shahed after a Dhaka court granted them 28 days to quiz the Regent Hospital chairman in custody in four cases over alleged fraud and embezzlement on Sunday.

A Dhaka court sentenced the disgraced businessman to life imprisonment in a case related to the illegal possession of firearms.

The Regent Hospital was not the only health facility mired by the fake COVID-19 test report scam.  The police unearthed the notorious JKG Health Care scam just before the RAB raids on Regent.

Jobeda Khatun Health Care or JKG Health Care was given permission to collect samples from suspected coronavirus patients in April.

JKG had set up 44 booths in six areas in Dhaka and Narayanganj to collect samples free of cost. They used to collect around 350 samples each day in these areas, which were then supposed to be sent to the authorised labs for testing.

A large number of fabricated COVID-19 test reports, written on the official pads of the health directorate and the IEDCR, were found on the laptops of JKG Health Care graphic designer Humayun Kabir Hiru.

On Jun 22, police arrested Hiru and his wife Tanzina Patwari following a complaint filed by Kamal Hossain, a caretaker of a house in Dhaka’s Kalyanpur.

Police brought charges against JKG Health Care for providing false reports without testing the swabs collected from the people for COVID-19 tests.

Law enforcers arrested JKG Healthcare CEO Ariful Chaudhury on Jun 23 and later on Jul 12, his wife Dr Sabrina Sharmeen Husain aka Sabrina A Chaudhury.

Sabrina, a government cardiac surgeon, was suspended by the health ministry for violating service rules by holding the post of chairman in a private organisation without permission. Sabrina denied any link with the JKG scam.

The ACC is examining the wealth of Ariful and Sabrina on charges of embezzling Tk 80 million by issuing the fake test reports.

Investigators also found that Sabrina fraudulently kept two NIDs and SIM cards.

A POLICEMAN AND A ‘PLANNED’ MURDER

Another incident that caused a stir this year was the shooting death of retired army major Sinha Md Rashed Khan, after which, the issue of ‘extrajudicial killings’ involving law enforcement faced renewed scrutiny.

Sinha, 36, was a member of the Special Security Force tasked with guarding the prime minister. He had gone into early retirement to pursue his interests. His father late Ershad Khan was a deputy secretary at the finance ministry.

On the night of Jul 31, he was shot dead by police at the Shamlapur checkpoint on Cox's Bazar-Teknaf Marine Drive.

The former army officer had been staying at Nilima Resort in Himchhari of Cox’s Bazar with three others for around a month to film a travel documentary.

After his death, police said they fired in self-defence when Sinha brandished a pistol at law enforcers after obstructing a search of his vehicle at the checkpoint on the Cox's Bazar-Teknaf Marine Drive.

Sinha’s sister Sharmin Shahria Ferdous subsequently started a case against nine policemen while the government formed a high-level probe committee after questions were raised about the details of the incident provided by the police.

The Rapid Action Battalion later pressed formal charges in court against former Teknaf Police OC Pradip Kumar Das, former in-charge of Baharchhara investigation centre Inspector Liakat Ali and 13 others.

After an investigation into the incident, RAB revealed that it was a “planned” murder orchestrated by Pradip after Sinha “came to know about his links to the drug business.”

“OC Pradip appeared in the scene around 25 minutes later after Sinha was shot. He pinned Sinha to the ground mercilessly and ensured his death,” according to a report by the defence ministry submitted to the parliamentary standing committee.

Meanwhile, investigators also found ‘no substance’ in the narcotics charges brought by the police against Stamford University students Shipra Debnath and Shahedul Islam Sefat who were co-workers of the slain former army major.

Following the incident, the government made wholesale changes to the police force in Cox's Bazar with as many as 1,347 police personnel, including top officers and constables, being transferred out of the district.

The ACC also opened a probe against Pradip Kumar Das and his wife Chumki Karon. Chumki, however, went into hiding.

Nevertheless, calls to bring the police into account began ringing once again after the death of Rayhan Ahmed in the custody of Banderbazar Police Outpost in Sylhet in October.

Rayhan’s wife Tahmina Akhter Tonni subsequently filed a case with Kotwali Police Station, accusing law enforcers of torturing her husband to death for money.

While the Banderbazar police claimed Raihan was lynched by an angry mob for pickpocketing, the Police Headquarters later tasked the Police Bureau of Investigation with opening a probe after finding evidence that the man had in fact died in custody.

Sylhet Metropolitan Police subsequently suspended four police personnel, including the in-charge of the outpost while withdrawing three others from the station.

As many as 183 suspects have killed in so-called gunfights with the law enforcement in Bangladesh from January until the end of July amid the government’s crackdown on the drug trade.

Sinha Md Rashed Khan was among 47 people killed by the law enforcement in July, the highest in a month this year.

The death toll ranged between 21 and 27 in the previous six months, except 15 in April when the nationwide lockdown over the coronavirus was enforced strictly, according to legal rights group Ain O Salish Kendra or ASK.

But with the role of the police in the so-called shootouts coming under the scanner, incidents of gunfights involving law enforcers have been few and far between ever since.

RISE IN RAPE CASES

Bangladesh has seen a surge in reported sexual crimes in recent years.

Besides loopholes in the law, a number of societal causes have been attributed to the escalating number of rape cases by woman rights activists and criminologists.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, protests broke out in Dhaka's Shahbagh and other parts of the country over sexual assaults on a woman in Noakhali, the rape of a Dhaka University student in Kurmitola and the gang-rape of another woman in Sylhet's MC College recently.

Reported incidents of child sexual abuse were also prevalent on social media.

The government later amended the law to elevate the maximum punishment for rape cases to death from life imprisonment.

Rape cases almost doubled to 1,413 in 2019 from the year before, according to ASK.

Among the most high-profile cases of 2020 involved a Dhaka University student who was raped in a secluded street in Kurmitola on Jan 5. Her father subsequently filed a case with Cantonment Police Station.

RAB later arrested 30-year-old ‘Mojnu’, the lone suspect in the case, identifying him as a serial rapist.

Mojnu, a street hawker and a native of Noakhali, was accused of raping beggars and mugging unsuspecting pedestrians. After the death of his wife, Mojnu, a drug addict, committed a series of crimes, including rape.

He was later sentenced to life imprisonment on Nov 19.

In another shocking incident, a group of men in Noakhali’s Begumganj broke into a 35-year-old woman's room and tortured her after stripping her naked on the night of Sep 2. The incident was recorded on camera by one of the assailants with the video later going viral on social media, sparking public outrage.

In the video, the youths continued beating her, while she pleaded with them to let her go.

Law enforcers later arrested the key suspects in the case, all of whom were members of a local criminal gang called 'Delowar Bahini', according to RAB

The gang’s leader, Delowar Hossain, was involved in extortion as well as the illegal arms and drug trades. A notorious criminal in his locality, Delowar used to claim to be a member of the ruling party.

Although Delowar was not named as a suspect in the case, he was later arrested and put behind bars in connection seven other cases.

Meanwhile, Nasir Uddin, 35, a teacher in Ahmadia Azizul Ulum Madrasa in Rangunia was arrested in October for sexually assaulting four children. Similar incidents involving madrasa students were also reported in Chattogram’s Patenga, Patiya and Bashkhali this year.

Six leaders of the quota reform movement, including former DUCSU vice-president Nurul Haque Nur, were also implicated in a rape case started by a Dhaka University student. The woman, a postgraduate student of Islamic Studies, accused of abetting the crime.

The main suspect in the case is Hasan Al Mamun, a postgraduate student from the same department who is currently serving as the convener of the Bangladesh Council to Protect General Students’ Rights, a platform for students demanding reforms to the quota system in government services.

Mamun is charged with enticing the alleged victim with false promises of marriage before raping her.

The other suspects in the case are Nazmul Hasan Sohag, Saiful Islam, Nazmul Huda and Abdullah Hil Baki, who are all involved with the Bangladesh Council to Protect General Students’ Rights.

Nur initially ‘promised a settlement’ but later shifted his position and asked her not to ‘react too much,’ the student said in the case dossier.

Asked about the allegations levelled at him, Mamun told bdnews24.com: "We don't know anything about the case. We haven't done any of the things that we're accused of."

Former Ghoraghat UNO Wahida Khanam, who was critically injured during a break-in at her home, has almost recovered after a month of treatment. She was taken to Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) in Mirpur after being discharged from National Institute of Neuro Sciences and Hospital on Oct 1, 2020. Photo: Asif Mahmud Ove

Detective police arrested Saiful and Nazmul on Oct 11 in the case. They are now in jail.

Nur was elected vice president of DUCSU as a candidate of the Bangladesh Council to Protect General Students’ Rights, a student organisation that emerged through the protest against the quota system in government jobs. He was once involved with Bangladesh Chhatra League but is now an ardent critic of the Awami League government.

With her house submerged, Ojifa Moni, a resident of Bejgaon Union in Louhjong Upazila, has removed its door. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

FLOODS RAVAGE BANGLADESH

With the country already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, nature dealt another hammer blow as torrential rains submerged almost one-quarter of Bangladesh. The floods  affected millions of lives across 40 districts in four phases, damaging houses and other buildings, domestic animals, crop fields, fisheries, roads, bridges and dams among other things.

Bangladesh counted losses worth an estimated Tk 60 billion as a consequence of the floods that lasted 46 days this year.

ATTACK ON GHORAGHAT UNO

In September, an unknown assailant broke into the home of Upazila Nirbahi Officer Wahida Khanam of Dinajpur’s Ghoraghat and brutally attacked her and her father Omar Ali, who came to visit his daughter from Naogaon.

Wahida’s husband Mejbahul Hossain is the UNO of Peerganj in Rangpur.

Wahida had been struck on the head with a hammer by the attacker, who entered the house after breaking open the ventilator on the bathroom wall, leaving the UNO in critical condition.

Wahida’s brother Sheikh Farid filed a case of attempt to murder against unnamed suspects.

RAB later arrested three men, including a member of the local unit of Jubo League, for their alleged involvement in the attack.

One of the suspects also confessed to carrying out the attack to steal valuables from the home of Wahida during interrogation.

But the case later took a dramatic turn when police arrested Rabiul Islam, a sacked Upazila Parishad gardener, and seized a hammer, said to be the weapon used in the attack.

The police also said Asadul Haque, whom RAB arrested in the case, was not involved in the incident.

Wahida had suspended Rabiul on charges of stealing money from her bag in January and finally fired him on Sep 1, according to the police.

“This made Rabiul angry. Then he planned and carried out the attack to kill her,” said Imam Zafar, the case’s investigation officer.

Wahida Khanam was flown to Dhaka from Rangpur Medical College Hospital in critical condition and admitted to the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital.

She was moved to the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed in Mirpur following her release from the National Institute of Neurosciences after almost a month of treatment.

Wahida was officially transferred to Dhaka on Sept 19 for the ease of her treatment. She was later made an officer on special duty at the Ministry of Public Administration.

BLAST IN NARAYANGANJ MOSQUE

In an incident that sent shockwaves across the country, more than 50 Muslim worshippers sustained burn wounds after the near-simultaneous explosions of six airconditioners in the Baitus Salat Jame Masjid in Narayanganj’s Fatullah.

After the incident, 37 people were admitted to Dhaka’s Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery. Only three of them survived.

The inquiries into the incident started in earnest with the authorities suspecting that gas accumulation inside the mosque triggered the explosions. State utility Titas subsequently dug the surrounding areas to check the line discovered six leaks in a pipeline that passed below the mosque.

But while the line had purportedly been abandoned for nearly 22 years, gas was still flowing through it as the transmission had not been turned off.

Fire Service officials believed the blasts were sparked by a gas leak from that pipeline.

Fatullah police later started a case over the blast against Titas, DPDC and the mosque governing committee, which has been under the investigation of the Criminal Investigation Department.

Eight people, including four engineers of Titas Gas, have been arrested in connection with the fatal air-conditioner blasts.

All eight had been suspended by Titas for 'neglect of duty' in the wake of the incident.

On Oct 31, CID arrested the head of Baitus Salat Jame Mosque's management committee Abdul Gafur, 65, in the case.

Nayan Talukder, sibling of Buringanga launch capsize victim Sumon Talukder – an employee of Jamuna Bank’s Islampur branch, is reduced to tears after arriving at the scene on Monday. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

BURIGANGA LAUNCH CAPSIZE

A launch capsized in the Buriganga River near Dhaka’s Shyambazar on Jun 29 after colliding with another vessel, leaving 34 people dead.

The ill-fated launch, Morning Bird, was heading towards Sadarghat from Munshiganj when it collided with the Moyur-2 vessel from Chandpur.

River Police filed a case over the incident, bringing charges of “negligent death” against seven people.

The case filed with West Keraniganj Police Station named Mosaddek Hanif Swad, owner of the launch Mayuri-2, master Abul Bashar, master Zakir Hossain and assistant Shipon Howladar and two others.

Some other unidentified people were also accused in the case filed by SI Shamsul Alam of river police.

Later, the River Police and RAB arrested six people, including five named suspects in the case.

A shipping ministry probe committee looking into the fatal collision later produced a 20-point recommendation to prevent the recurrence of such disasters after identifying nine reasons behind the tragedy.

Some of the demonstrators wore dog masks to register their protest against Dhaka South City Corporation’s decision to relocate stray dogs. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

RELOCATION OF STRAY DOGS

In September, Dhaka South City Corporation drew the ire of animal rights activists over its decision to remove 30,000 dogs from the streets of the capital after receiving complaints of trouble from citizens.

The animal lovers recommended strengthening sterilisation programmes and vaccination for rabies as the solution.

They organised various programmes, including drawing competitions and human-chain demonstrations, to highlight the issue.

On Sept 17, animal rights activists filed a writ petition to the High Court seeking an order to stop DSCC’s initiative to relocate the stray dogs.

On Sept 29, their representatives sat with Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, who told them that the city corporation will not relocate the dogs if someone takes full responsibilities to keep the animals.

The organisations sent a letter to the mayor on Oct 8 with nine recommendations on managing the dogs following his advice.

They recommended coordination between the health, livestock and local government ministries.

The other recommendations included vaccinating the dogs against rabies, taking programmes to allay citizens’ fears about dogs and inspire them into adopting dogs, and making registration of pet animals mandatory.

The DSCC later stopped the relocation of stray dogs following a hearing of the petition in the High Court. DNCC, on the other hand, wants to reach a solution for a better management of stray dogs, without relocating them.

Karim Jute Mills is one of the seven jute mills in the Dhaka district to be run under the auspices of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

SHUTDOWN OF STATE-OWNED JUTE MILLS

In a bid to revive the ailing jute industry, the government announced it would be shutting down production at all 26 state-owned jute mills in July and switch to a public-private partnership model for greater economic efficiency.

The government aims to revamp the state-owned jute mills facing shutdown by using modern technology and engage those with experience in the upgraded plants, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had said.

A total of 26 jute mills under the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation have been incurring losses for decades, turning profits in just four of the last 44 years.

The move to shut down the mills also sent about 25,000 workers at 26 jute mills into early retirement once their pay was settled under a scheme, euphemistically called a golden handshake.

The government allocated Tk 580 million to pay their wages for the month of June and plans to revitalise the flagging jute sector through public-private partnerships.

Following the prime minister’s directive, the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation has forwarded the final account of the full amount of the workers’ retirement benefit to the finance ministry.

The finance division is now releasing the amount in phases to pay the workers in different mills.

The finance ministry released Tk 17.9 billion as of now to pay off the workers in eight of the 26 jute mills, according to Textiles and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi.

The arrears would be paid in bank deposits and three-month interest-based savings schemes to the workers, he said.

As many as 63 of the 314 state-owned jute mills were closed, the minister told the parliament last. This year the government shut down another 26 mills under the  BJMC. Some other mills were reported to be closed too.

BJMC was founded after the independence with 78 jute mills and the number rose to 82 in 1981. As many as 35 jute mills were privatised and eight mills had their capital withdrawn during the government of Hussain Mohammad Ershad.

At least 11 jute mills were closed, sold off or merged after 1990 under the jute sector reformation programme of the World Bank. Adamjee Jute Mill, the biggest in the country, was shut down during the rule of BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami government  in 2002.

Leaders and members of Hifazat-e Islam and other Islamist organisations occupy the north gate of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque as part of a protest over the French cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, on Monday, Nov 2, 2020. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

POLITICS IN ‘ISOLATION’, HIFAZAT STIRS CONTROVERSY

In March, Bangladesh detected its first cases of the coronavirus, prompting the government to ban large gatherings before enforcing a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the disease.

As the people of the country remained confined in their home, political activities, too, endured a similar fate.

Nevertheless, activists and workers of political parties busied themselves with relief efforts on the ground during the pandemic.

Many were infected with the virus along the way while a few also lost their lives.

Ahead of the lockdown, however, the government suspended the effectiveness of BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s sentences and released her from prison conditionally, citing “humanitarian reasons” amid a surge in coronavirus cases on Mar 25.

Khaleda had been in prison since February 2018 after she was sentenced to a total of 17 years in two graft cases involving Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust.

She was initially kept at Old Dhaka’s abandoned central prison, but later on Apr 1, 2019 she was moved to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University for treatment.

In the past two years, Khaleda’s legal team had appealed several times for her bail but it was not granted. It was reported in the media that her family appealed to the home ministry for her temporary release in early March.

File Photo

The former prime minister returned to Feroza, her residence in Gulshan, on Mar 25.

Khaleda’s suspended sentence was scheduled to end on Sept 24, but the government then extended the suspension by six more months.

However, at the tail end of the year, Islamist organisation Hifazat-e Islam came to forefront and was at the heart of much controversy following the death of its Amir Shah Ahmad Shafi.

An organisation which constantly argues against the education and rights of women, Hifazat-e Islami drew attention by demanding the cancellation of the plan to build the statue of the Father of the Nation.

Islamists objected to the construction of Bangabandhu’s statue at a rally under the banner of ‘Towhidi Janata Oikya Parishad’ in Dhaka’s Gendaria on Nov 13.

Mamunul Haque, who heads Bangladesh Khelafat Jubo Majlish and is joint secretary general of radical Islamic outfit Hifazat, had opposed the construction of Bangabandhu’s statue at a separate programme at the BMA Auditorium in the capital the same day.

On Nov 27, Hifazat chief Babunagari threatened to “pull down” statues no matter which party erects them.

Amid the countrywide protests against the statements of the Islamist leaders, an under-construction statue of the Bangabandhu was vandalised in Kushtia.

Later the police arrested two madrasa students and two of their teachers after reviewing the incident on CCTV footage.

Sedition charges have already been brought against Babunagari in the incident of statue vandalism and his stance against sculptures of any kind.

The High Court has ordered the authorities to take legal steps to punish those who opposed the building of statues and defaced the sculpture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.