Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish’s Mamunul Haque acquitted in rape case

Locals caught Mamunul with a woman at the Royal Resort in Sonargaon Upazila on Apr 3, 2021

Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish General Secretary Mamunul Haque has been acquitted in a rape case filed at Narayanganj’s Sonargaon Upazila.

Judge Jasmine Ara Begum of the Narayanganj Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal delivered the verdict in the case on Thursday, according to Qayyum Khan, inspector of court police.

Mamunul was in court for the hearing.

“The autocrat Hasina tried to tarnish my image and used the entirety of the state apparatus to do so,” Mamunul told the media after the verdict. “She attempted to destroy me by holding my family hostage and threatening me with murder.”

“The great Allah has rescued me from this conspiracy. The trial has also been transparent and I have been spared from this slanderous case.”

bdnews24.com was unable to get a comment from the plaintiff in the case as they were not present at the court. No lawyer representing the plaintiff was at the court either.

According to court sources, Mohsin Mia, the former president of the Narayanganj District Bar Association, was the plaintiff’s lawyer.

Several cases have been filed against the lawyer, who has ties to Awami League politics, for attacks on the Anti-discrimination Student Movement.

Citing the case documents, Inspector Qayyum said locals detained Mamunul with a woman at the Royal Resort in Sonargaon Upazila on Apr 3, 2021.

Police and local administration officials went to the scene after receiving the news. Then activists of Hifazat-e Islami went to the scene and freed the two of them.

Detectives from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested Mamunul on Apr 18 that year in connection with a sabotage case filed in 2020.

Then, on Apr 30, the woman detained alongside Mamunul filed a rape case against him at Sonargaon Police Station.

Police submitted a chargesheet against Mamunul in the rape case on Nov 3 that year.

Mamunul, a former joint secretary general of Hifazat-e-Islami, had been accused in 41 cases carrying charges under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act.

On May 3 this year, he was released from the Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur after securing bail from the High Court.