The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Charges were framed in a court yesterday against four senior teachers and 15 students of Dhaka University in another case of breaking Emergency Powers Rules 2007 during the campus violence in August last.

On the other hand, accused teachers asked their families not to move any petition to the High Court seeking their bails in the cases filed against them under the Emergency Powers Rules 2007.

The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court framed the charges against four accused teachers and 15 students and rejected their pleas to acquit them from the case.

CMM and Speedy Trial Tribunal judge Habibur Rahman Siddiqui himself read out the details of the charges in front of five of the accused in the dock at about 12:30pm yesterday and set the date for December 19 for recording statements of the witnesses.

After hearing the charges on the dock, detained Dhaka University Teachers Association (DUTA) president Professor Sadrul Amin, general secretary Professor Anwar Hossain, Social Sciences Faculty dean Professor Harun-ar-Rashid and Applied Physics and Electronics Department chairman Professor Nimchandra Bhowmik and student Moniruzzaman Sardar Rubel pleaded not guilty and claimed themselves innocent. They said they would expect fair trial from the court.

Fourteen students, who were also made accused in the case for violating the Emergency Powers Rules, remain absconding following the incident.

Family members of the four accused teachers and mother of the student Moniruzzaman Rubel were present outside the courtroom during the framing of charges.

Besides, a large number of teachers of Dhaka University were present.

After framing the charges, the court allowed the accused teachers and the student to talk to their family members for 15 minutes. At that time, four teachers talked to their family members standing on the dock.

The teachers told their families that they did not commit any wrongdoing. So, the members of their families should refrain from filing any writ petition to the higher court seeking their bails. Since the charges were framed, the court would decide their fate.

"If we move bail petitions to the High Court according to the suggestion of Dhaka University vice-chancellor, it will prove that we committed crimes," Sanjeev Hossain, son of Prof Anwar Hossain, told reporters, quoting his father. "Filing bail petitions means we have confessed our crimes."

On the other hand, mother of Moniruzzaman Rubel burst into tears while consoling her son on the dock of the court.

On Tuesday night Dhaka University vice-chancellor Prof SMA Faiz invited the families of the detained teachers and suggested them to file bail petitions with the High Court saying that the High Court might grant them bails.

The vice-chancellor suggested the families of the detained teachers to move bail petitions with the High Court in the wake of framing charges against them.

Later, the vice-chancellor told reporters that the government was working with a number of alternatives. "Now, it is our principal objective to bring the teachers back to a free environment. That is why requested the families of the detained teachers to go to the High Court," he said.

However, the families of the accused teachers did not accept the suggestion of the vice-chancellor, saying that their husbands did not commit anything wrong. Rather, they stood beside the students like in the past.

Nargis Rashid, wife of Prof Harun-ar-Rashid and Ayesha Aktar, wife of Prof Anwar Hossain went to the residence of vice-chancellor at 11:00pm. Their talks with the VC lasted for one and half an hour.

It is learnt that they discussed about the release of the teachers through the withdrawal of cases or their release on bails from the High Court.

However, the families of the accused teachers demanded unconditional release of their husbands rather on bails.

After holding talks with the vice-chancellor, Nargis Rashid told journalists that they did not want the release of their husbands on bails, rather they want their unconditional release.

"We discussed how the detained teachers could come back to a free environment. We want they will come out as soon as possible. We learnt from the DUTA that they would be released within two weeks. We want quick implementation of the assurance given by the government," she said.

During the meeting, DUTA acting president Prof Tajmeri SA Islam, proctor Prof AK Firoze Ahmed and dean of the Faculty of Law Prof Borhanuddin Khan were present.

Yesterday's charge-framing came a day after another court framed charges against the same teachers on the same grounds amid arguments by defence counsels that the process was illegal since separate cases could not be filed on same charges.

The defendants' lawyers said none of the witnesses stated that the accused were involved in inciting the students.

A defending lawyer challenged the prosecution that filing of the case took place 34 hours after the incidents mentioned in the case details, which is unacceptable in a court of law.

The accused are facing charges of leading processions on the campus, giving inflammatory statements to instigate students, obstructing government activities and being part of arson attacks on August 21.

Lawyers on behalf of the teachers claimed that their clients did not do anything else or were not involved in any incident that was tantamount to violating the Emergency Powers Rules.

They also think that the teachers are unlikely to get released soon as charges were framed in two separate cases against them.

On August 23, Rezaul Karim Khan of Shahbagh Police Station filed the case.