C T Online Desk: Citizens, including green activists, on Monday protested at the construction of the Kalabagan police station on the Tetultala playground at Kalabgan and demanded an impartial investigation into the role of police officials in detaining a female protester and her underage son.
They said that the law enforcement agencies tried to spread fear among the local people by detaining Saydea Ratna and her son Isa Abdullah, 17, without following any legal procedure.
They alleged that the police action was in complete violation of the constitution and the laws as there was no specific allegation against them.
The mother and her son were kept detained at the Kalabagan police station for about 13 hours while the son was kept in the lockup during the time and they were released after Sunday midnight amid protests in front of the police station and on social media as well.
‘We demand the relocation of the police station to other place to save the playground and water bodies in accordance with the election manifesto of the ruling Awami League and the Detailed Area Plan,’ said Urban planner and architect Iqbal Habib in a written statement at a press conference at Sagar-Runi Auditorium of the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity on Monday morning.
He said that the Kalabagan police detained Saydea Ratna and her son Isa Abdullah without following any legal procedure while there was no specific allegation against them, which he, said, was a complete violation of the constitution and the laws.
Pointing out that the Kalabagan police station’s officer-in-charge could not be contacted throughout the day, Iqbal Habib demanded that he should come up with a proper explanation in this regard.
‘We also call for legal and administrative actions against the Kalabagan police station authority over their illegal detention of Ratna and her underage son and taking an undertaking, which violated the citizen’s minimum right to freedom of speech, freedom of expression and rights to democratic practices and human rights as well,’ he added.
The playground has been used by the residents of the locality for 50 years for Eid prayers, different social and cultural events, giving bath to the dead and holding namaz-e-janaza and it is the only playground in ward 17 under the Dhaka South City Corporation.
Representatives of various rights and cultural organisations, including the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, the Ain o Salish Kendra, the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, the Association for Land Reform and Development, the Institute of Architects Bangladesh, Nijera Kori Bangladesh, Udichi Shilpigosthi and others were present at the press conference.
BELA chief executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan said, ‘Laws and law enforcement agencies are being used as tools against those individuals and organisations working to protect environment and human rights and it is the latest example of such acts.’
She asked the government authorities concerned to say where the children would play, or if they should play games on computers and learn crimes and if this was why the government needed to construct the police station on the Tetultala ground.
She also said that there was no scope to legalise all illegal work in the name of government work.
Home minister Asaduzzaman Khan, however, told reporters that if they failed to protect law and order, everything will go in vain.
‘I have already told the mayor and others to search an alternative place. If the place is not found, we will take a decision later after discussions as constructing the police station is also important,’ he said, while replying to questions from reporters after distributing clothes on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr at Tejgaon Government Science College.
He also emphasised the importance of playgrounds for children as the number of playgrounds is on the decline due to the urbanisation.
He said that the Dhaka deputy commissioner allocated the land to the Kalabagan police station for constructing its infrastructure there and when they started the construction the protests began.
But, the construction of police station on the Tetultala playground was under way even on Monday noon workers were seen working with raw materials at the place in presence of huge number of police personnel.
Saydea Ratna and her son were detained by the Kalabagan police on Sunday at about 11:00am and were released from the station after more than 13 hours at 12:10am on Monday amid protests from the rights and cultural activists in front of the police station.
Victim Ratna told New Age that she was detained by police personnel when she went live on Facebook to protest against the construction of the police station on the Tetultala playground at Kalabagan.
‘My son and I were picked up and taken to the police station. My son was locked in a prison. The police had taken details of my family members and permanent addresses. I was then locked in a prison,’ she said, adding that after she requested them to provide her with a chair they provided it and she was taken to another room after she spent five minutes in the lockup.
She said that she was made sit for the whole time in a room where three women constables were with her before she was released at about 12:10am on Monday.
‘They have taken an undertaking from me to the end that I will not create obstacle in government works,’ she added.
The High Court in 2014 in a writ order directed the district administrations to protect the country’s all parks, playgrounds and canals.
A total of 37 civil society representatives, including Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Zafrullah Chowdhury, human rights activist and BAPA president Sultana Kamal, former Bangladesh Bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed, Nijera Kori coordinator Khushi Kabir, TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman, Dhaka University law professor Asif Nazrul, acclaimed photographer Shahidul Alam, BELA chief executive Syed Rezwana Hasan and DU economics professor MM Akash in a statement condemned the move to build the police station on the playground and the detention of the mother and the son.
‘We want no more construction on the playground. If the construction work is not stopped, we would take legal action in this regard,’ said BELA chief executive Syed Rezwana Hasan, while speaking at a demonstration on the Tetultala playground on Monday afternoon where local people, children, rights activists and others joined them demanding a halt to the police station construction work.
IAB president Mubasshar Hussain said, ‘The police officials should have protested against the construction on the playground as they term themselves as friends of the people, otherwise people will call the building their enemy.’
He said that if the police wanted, they would help them in searching a place for constructing the police station.
‘As an architect, I can say that the place is not suitable for constructing a police station due to narrow roads and without having dumping facilities there,’ he added.
Mubasshar Hussain also said that if the police cannot stop the construction after the remarks of the home minister, it would be showing thumb to the minister.
Nijera Kori coordinator Khushi Kabir and Udichi Shilpigosthi general secretary Jamshed Anwar Tapan, local people, among others, spoke at the event.
The incidents of conflict between the police and people started on January 31, 2022 when the police, led by the Kalabagan police station OC, drove children away from the field and barricaded the area with barbed wire, according to residents.
Some children protested at the move and the police at that night punished the protesting children making them squat holding their ears.
Locals formed a human chain at West Panthapath demanding declaring the field as a public field and as the footage of squat went viral on social media, four police personnel of the police station were withdrawn.
Zinat Rehana Luna, a resident of the area said, ‘The field is very important for physical and mental development of the children in the densely populated area.’
She said that her husband died of Covid-19 and his last bath, janaza and other rituals were held on the playground.
‘The playground is not only a place for children’s playing but also a place holding memories for many people,’ she added.
Raihan Zaman, a sixth grader who used to play on the playground, said, ‘My father’s last bath and the janaza were held on this playground. We played here before but can’t for the past five months.’
