Shahid Al Mahmud (22) was the son of Rajab Ali and Josna Begum, residents of Badanpur of Kalicharanpur Union under Jhenaidah Sadar upazila. He was a student of Jhenaidah Siddikiya Aliya Madrassa and an activist of the Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir . On June 14 at around 12:15am, Shahid was taken away by a group of uniformed policemen and some plain clothed men from Jhenaidah Sadar Police Station, led by Sub-Inspector (SI) Aminul. Shahid’s family alleged that after 16 days of Shahid’s disappearance, Police killed him in the name of ‘crossfire/gunfight’ at Tetulbaria field in Jhenaidah Sadar Upazila on July 1, 2016 at around 2:30am.
A fact finding mission has found that on June 14, 2016 at around 12:15 am, two unknown men entered Shahid’s house by breaking the back boundary wall which was made of bamboo. Then, they called out to Shahid by name. Shahid’s parents came out of the house and the men pointed guns at them and forced them to open the main entrance of the house. Another 4/5 plain clothed armed men entered the house and went to Shahid’s room where he was sleeping. The armed men dragged Shahid out of the house and took him away. Shahid’s parents followed SI Aminul and the others to the road. They saw three motorbikes and a black color microbus there. They also saw, 6/7 uniformed policemen standing beside the microbus. The policemen dragged Shahid into the microbus and headed towards Jhenaidah. Khabir Uddin (a neighbour) and Shahid’s nephew Shakib Al Hasan tried to stop the vehicle. But SI Aminul threatened them to get off the road. While taking Shahid away, the police men also detained two Awami League supporters, Laltu and Sujon, who were residents of Kalicharanpur Bazaar, from the road some 100 yards of the Kalicharanpur Bazaar area. On that night and later in the morning, local Awami League leaders contacted Jhenaidah Sadar Police Station and met police officials and senior leaders of Awami League regarding Laltu and Sujon’s arrest. On June 15 at around 11:30pm, Laltu and Sujon were found blindfolded on the roadside in Baratala, area but Shahid was not found. Shahid’s family searched for him in many places, including police station, DB office and Jhenaidah RAB camp from June 14 to July 1, 2016 till before Shahid was found dead. But they could not found his whereabouts. On June 15, Shahid’s brother, Abdur Rahim went Jhenaidah Sadar Police Station to file a General Diary (GD) but the duty officer of the police station did not accept the GD because Rahim stated in it that members of law enforcement agencies took Shahid away. On June 16, Rahim went RAB- 6 camp in Jhenaidah but they denied the arrest of Shahid. They also suggested that he file a case. However, Rahim did not file case because he was afraid of police harassment. On June 18, Shahid’s family organised a press conference at Jhenaidah Press Club and demanded information of the whereabouts of Shahid.
N.B. It was not possible to interview Laltu and Sujon because their family did not allow Odhikar to meet them. Odhikar could not contact any local leader of Islami Chhatra Shibir or Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. All of them were hiding because of government’s continuous persecution. Their mobile phones were also switched off. However, Odhikar could indirectly contact some of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders of Jhenaidah district through a Jamaat-e-Islami leader of Kaliganj Upazila, but they refused to comment on Shahid.
Shahid_jhenaidah_disappearances_police_01-07-16 (full text in English, PDF)
Shahid_jhenaidah_disappearances_police_14-06-16 (full text in Bangla, PDF)
