Muktijuddho Mancha block Shahbagh intersection, demand arrest of Nur

The members of Muktijuddho Mancha have blocked Shahbagh intersection in Dhaka for three hours demanding the arrest of former DUCSU vice-president Nurul Haque Nur and five other anti-quota movement leaders on rape charges.

They gathered at the busy intersection at 4:00 pm on Saturday and left in the evening, threatening to resume the blockade if they do not get the government’s assurance on meeting their demands.

“We are leaving for now considering public sufferings, but we will block Shahbagh again if the government does not promise to arrest Nur and his associates, and meet our other demands within 24 hours. Demonstrations will be held across the country,” said the Mancha’s President Aminul Islam Bulbul.

They have also demanded a ban on Bangladesh Council to Protect General Students’ Rights, which organised the anti-quota movement. 

Their other demands include exemplary punishment to those involved in sexual violence against women, including the assaults on a woman in Noakhali’s Begumganj, and the rape of another in Sylhet’s MC College.

The demonstrations disrupted traffic in the area heavily. At one stage, the protesters allowed vehicles to move through a narrow passage, but congestions already spread in the area.

Earlier on Saturday, they rallied at the Raju Memorial on the Dhaka University campus, where the student who brought rape charges against the anti-quota movement leaders were continuing her hunger strike.

The police said on Friday they were focusing on key suspects Hasan Al Mamun and Nazmul Hasan Sohag, both “fugitives”.

Nur has attended events in the past few days, but the police said they needed more evidence to arrest him.

The alleged victim, a student of Dhaka University’s Islamic studies who had been involved in the anti-quota movement, has accused Mamun of raping her in January with the promise of marriage.

Mamun is a student of the same department. He was suspended by the Bangladesh Council to Protect General Students’ Rights, a platform that organised the movement, as its convenor after the rape allegation surfaced.

Sohag is also accused of raping the young woman promising her help.

Nur faces charges of making threats of defaming her after delaying the process of trial with a false promise of justice.

The three others -- Saiful Islam, Nazmul Huda and Abdullah Hil Baki -- are charged with abetting the crimes.