Police searching for videos of Hifazat violence, leaders’ speeches for evidence

The police are building a collection of social media videos of violence unleashed by Hifazat-e Islam and speeches of the radial group’s leaders to use them as evidence in cases.

Liton Haiderbdnews24.com
Published : 22 April 2021, 09:39 PM
Updated : 22 April 2021, 09:39 PM

The law enforcers are giving importance to the evidence after the filing of more than 100 cases over recent violence by the Qawmi madrasa-based organisation in parts of Bangladesh.

Investigators say that they are analysing the videos of the scenes of violence to identify those responsible and speeches delivered by Hifazat leaders in Waz-Mahfil or religious gatherings.

Some of the videos, however, have been removed from social media.

“Removing the contents won’t be helpful. We are downloading and archiving them. These are becoming hard evidence after forensic tests,” said Muhammad Shariful Islam, a deputy commissioner at Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Cyber and Special Crime Division.

Protesters against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit throw brick-bats targeting the police after Friday prayers at the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka on Mar 26, 2021. Photo: Asif Mahmud Ove

“Someone always downloads videos from YouTube or other media. So, the perpetrators cannot evade justice,” he said.

The Police Bureau of Investigation, or PBI, has been tasked with investigating 16 cases over Hifazat violence in Brahmanbaria, Manikganj, Kishoreganj, Chattogram’s Hathazari and Cox’s Bazar.

Banaj Kumar Majumder, a deputy inspector general heading the PBI, said the investigators began collecting evidence, including video and audio clips.

Besides downloading existing videos, they are using different ways to collect the footage that have been removed from internet, he said.

Deadly clashes erupted between Hifazat activists and the law enforcers following the mayhem by the radical Islamists in protest against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit over his government’s policy towards minority Muslims.

The law-enforcing agencies arrested a number of top leaders of the organisation in the past few days on various charges including the violence over Modi’s visit.

The Islamist leaders are accused of spreading hate through their sermons in religious gatherings. Their supporters also share the videos of the hate speech on social media.

Mar 26, 2021: A group of madrasa students in Brahmanbaria vandalised and torched Brahmanbaria Railway Station and other parts of the city following clashes between fellow students with the police in Hathazari, amid protests over Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Dhaka to join the celebrations marking 50 years of Bangladesh's independence. No train made a stop at the station for seven and a half months following the incident.

DIG Md Haider Ali, a spokesman for the police, said nearly 3,000 people have been named in around 130 cases over the recent Hifazat violence and around 800 of them have been arrested until Thursday.

Additional DIG Mahbubur Rahman, who is heading the police’s Criminal Investigation Department, said on Tuesday that arrests will be made following analysis of the videos by their forensic division.

In his words, the CID is using its “full force” to investigate 23 cases over Hifazat violence.

PBI head Banaj said they were prioritising the angle that a person can be involved in different incidents of violence at a time through communication.

“We are doing everything we can to ensure that no innocent person gets punished."