Quota reforms protest: Police file final reports in 650 cases

Police have dropped charges of carrying out violence and cybercrimes countrywide against all the accused, including several top BNP and Jamaat leaders, in around 650 cases.
Most of these cases were filed between July 17 and August 5 during the quota reform protests, according to case documents.
A high official of the Police Headquarters (PHQ) confirmed this development to The Daily Star yesterday.
Investigators of these cases submitted the final reports to the courts concerned over the last two weeks, praying them to relieve the accused of the charges, said the official on condition of anonymity.
Mohammed Shah Jalal, additional deputy inspector general (crime range) of the PHQ, said they instructed all the police units across the country to submit the final reports of those cases which were found to have been filed against innocent people.
“The investigation officers concerned will now submit the final reports after analyzing the merits of the cases,” he The Daily Star yesterday.
Regarding the murder cases, Shah Jalal said the IOs of those cases have been given similar instructions so that no innocent people face harassment.
“However, since murders have taken place, the IO needs to analyse and investigate why those crimes were committed and who were behind those.
“If the name of any accused was not included in the First Information Report, then the person’s name should be included following an investigation. The IOs has jurisdiction over that,” he added.
Of the 650 cases, 228 were filed with the police stations under the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, according to court documents.
In some final reports of the cases, the investigators said no evidence was found against the accused and the cases were “matters of factual error”.
Some other final reports said the incidents happened, but evidence against the accused was not found during the investigation.
An inspector at the DMP’s prosecution division told The Daily Star yesterday, “A total of 290 cases were filed with different police stations under DMP between July 17 and August 5 centering violence. Of them, 62 were filed on murder charges.”
“Except for the murder cases, police have already submitted probe reports to the courts in the rest of the 228 cases, clearing the accused,” he said, requesting anonymity.
Over 3,000 people, including leaders and activists of the BNP and Jamaat, who were arrested in the 228 cases, were relieved of the charges, he said.
According to police sources, almost all of these cases were filed by the police as per the directives of the previous Awami League government that fell on August 5 following a mass uprising.