Hefazat leader Mamunul put on 7-day remand
Staff Correspondent: A court in Dhaka has placed Hefazat-e-Islam Joint Secretary General Mamunul Haque on a seven-day remand in a case filed with Mohammadpur police station last year. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Debdas Chandra Adhikari passed the order on Monday after police produced the Hefazat leader before the court in the morning amid tight security.
Mohammadpur police station Sub-Inspector Sajedul Haq, also the investigating officer, submitted a petition seeking remand for seven days to interrogate Mamunul in police custody in the case lodged by one GM Alamgir Shahin on March 7, 2020. On the other hand, defence counsel Jaynul Abedin Mezbah filed a petition seeking his client’s bail with remand rejection prayer.
The court, however, rejected his petition. The case was filed against Mamunul and seven others named along with 70 to 80 others unnamed on charges of assault, attempt to murder, intimidation, creating obstacles in performing religious works, looting a Samsung mobile phone set, Tk7,000, $200, and a Brac Bank debit card during an attack at a local mosque on March 6 night last year. Mamunul, also the acting secretary general of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, was arrested by a joint team of police and detectives at Jamia Rahmania Arabia Madrasa in the capital’s Mohammadpur area on Sunday.
The Hefazat leader has been in the limelight for several months for mobilizing violent movements demanding removal of Bangabandhu’s sculpture and protesting against the arrival of the Indian prime minister. At a media call immediately after the arrest, DMP Deputy Commissioner (DC) Harun-or-Rashid said Mamunul had been under police scanner following the recent protests by Hefazat men across the country. “He influenced his followers, who attacked, vandalized police stations, police outposts, and other government and private establishments.” Meanwhile, the Hefazat leader has been sued in several cases filed over violence that took place near Baitul Mukarram National Mosque during Hefazat’s demonstrations on March 26, and following his confinement with a woman at a resort in Sonargaon, Narayanganj.
Detective Branch officials said that he was also named in a number of cases filed over the Hefazat mayhem in the capital on May 5, 2013. Mamunul was behind the scenes since April 3 after he had been surrounded by locals and ruling party supporters with a woman, whom he identified as his second wife, at Royal Resort in Sonargaon. Officials of the local administration and the police went to the resort upon hearing about the incident, and sat with Mamunul to learn about the incident. Later a group of stick-wielding Hefazat supporters launched an attack on the resort, vandalized it and snatched Mamunul from the police.
