Police in Dhaka’s Dhamrai have arrested a 60-year-old man after allegedly failing to find his son, a Jubo League worker, during a late-night raid at their home.
Mohammad Kolim Uddin, a resident of Bhabanhati village in Balia Union of Dhamrai upazila, was taken into custody after police went to his house at around 12.30am on Saturday night looking for his son, engineer Rifat Ahmed.
According to Kolim Uddin’s family, between 10 and 12 police officers arrived at the house and knocked on the door. After identifying themselves as police, they were allowed inside. At the time, Kolim Uddin, his wife Hasina Begum, their daughter and daughter-in-law were at home.
Hasina Begum said the officers initially asked about her son Rifat. She told them that he was not at home and that the family had no contact with him because of his political activities. The officers then took her husband outside and subsequently brought him to the police station.
Kolim Uddin was later shown as arrested and sent to court on Sunday, according to his family.
Hasina Begum said her husband is a farmer and has never been involved in politics. She also claimed that he had no previous criminal cases against him. She alleged that he was being subjected to harassment because of his son’s political activities.
The family’s account was echoed by Kolim Uddin’s daughter, Happy Akter. She acknowledged that her brother had been involved in politics but said he had not returned home since the change of government. According to her, the family has also lost contact with him.
“My father has never been involved in politics,” Happy said, adding that police took him away after failing to find her brother. She questioned the basis for showing her father as an accused in a political case.
Police, however, have provided a different explanation for the arrest.
Dhamrai Police Station Officer-in-Charge Nazmul Huda Khan said Rifat Ahmed is a Jubo League leader and had led a procession a few days earlier. A police team led by the officer-in-charge of the Kaulipara police outpost subsequently conducted the raid at Rifat’s home, he said.
The officer said the family was considered supportive of the Awami League. On that basis, Kolim Uddin was shown arrested in a pending case, according to the police.
When asked whether Kolim Uddin had any previous case or held a formal position in the Awami League, the officer said he had no previous case and was not a party office-bearer. He maintained that information identifying Kolim Uddin as an Awami League supporter was the basis for his arrest in the pending case.
The incident has therefore produced conflicting accounts. Kolim Uddin’s family maintains that he is a farmer with no political involvement and that his arrest followed the police search for his son. Police, meanwhile, say his political affiliation and the circumstances surrounding his son’s activities were relevant to the arrest.
The differing claims leave the circumstances surrounding the arrest at the centre of the dispute, with the family challenging the basis for the action while police stand by their account of the case.
