A case was filed on Sunday against around 150 people over allegations of blocking newly elected MP Rumeen Farhana from paying tribute at Shaheed Minar at Sarail upazila and assaulting her supporters.
Former Sarail upazila Bangladesh Nationalist Party general secretary Anwar Hossain has been named as the prime accused.
Ahad, a supporter of Rumeen Farhana, filed the case with the Sarail police.
The United News of Bangladesh, quoting Sarail police officer-in-charge Manjur Kader Bhuiyan, said that the case named five accused while 140 to 150 others were listed as unidentified.
Independent lawmaker Rumeen Farhana was reportedly prevented from laying a wreath at the central Shaheed Minar in Sarail upazila of Brahmanbaria in the early hours February 21.
The incident happened amid an altercation between her supporters and local BNP leaders and activists about midnight past Friday when Rumeen went to Shaheed Minar to pay tribute, marking Shaheed Dibas and International Mother Language Day.
She reached the venue around 11:45pm on February 20 and was standing in front of the altar with a wreath along with her supporters.
Witnesses said that tension erupted when local BNP activists began chanting ‘fake, fake’ slogans allegedly targeting the lawmaker, prompting a heated exchange between the two sides that later turned into a scuffle.
Rumeen alleged that BNP activists tore apart her wreath during the commotion.
Unable to place the wreath, she left the Shaheed Minar area under the protection of her supporters.
Speaking to journalists, she later said, ‘According to the Warrant of Precedence, as an elected lawmaker, I am supposed to lay the wreath first.’
‘But unfortunately, some BNP men virtually attacked my activists,’ she alleged.
‘It reached a point where I was almost pushed to the ground,’ the lawmaker said.
Claiming that the attack was pre-planned, Rumeen said, ‘Some unruly youths led by a hooligan-type person carried out the attack.’
‘They are hurt because they could not accept defeat. I won as an independent candidate. Despite spending crores of taka, they failed,’ Rumeen stated.
Her supporters later staged a protest by blocking the Shahbazpur First Gate area on Dhaka-Sylhet highway for about an hour.
Afterwards, the police brought the situation under control.
Contacted, Sarail upazila BNP general secretary Anwar Hossain declined to make comments.
Rumeen Farhana, then assistant international affairs secretary of the party’s National Executive Committee, was rejected after she had sought nomination from the Brahmanbaria-2 constituency in the 13th Jatiya Sangsad election.
BNP-led alliance partner Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam Bangladesh’s candidate Junayed Al Habib was awarded the nomination for the seat.
Ahead of the election, the BNP expelled Rumeen Farhana, accusing her of flouting party discipline.
Defying the party decision, Rumeen contested the February 12 national polls as an independent candidate, and securing 1,18,547 votes, won the election in a clear sweep against Junayed Al Habib who bagged 80,434 votes.
Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, meanwhile, issued a statement on Sunday, demanding action against those involved in the Shaheed Minar incident.
Denouncing the incident, the women rights organisation said that facing obstruction, Rumeen Farhana was compelled to leave without being able to pay her respects to the language martyrs.
The statement said that preventing an elected public representative, especially a woman lawmaker, from offering respect to the language martyrs was contrary to democratic values and freedom of expression.
Such behavior reflects a misogynistic mindset and is an attempt to undermine women’s political empowerment, participation, and leadership, according to the statement.
