The court has granted bail to college student Alfie Shahriar Mahim (16) in the murder case of Begum Rokeya University (BRU) student Abu Saeed during the quota reform movement. Judge Mustafa Kamal of Juvenile Court-1 on Thursday (August 1) at 1 pm ordered this bail on a bond of BDT 100 after the hearing.

Confirming the news, Mahim’s lawyer, Zobaidul Islam, told reporters that the case had been transferred from Metropolitan Tajhat police station due to Mahim’s juvenile status. The initial hearing was set for August 4. But we requested an earlier hearing. The court accepted the request and granted bail.

Previously, on July 19, Mahim was sent to prison in connection with the murder of BRU student Abu Saeed. However, the fact that Mahim was arrested and sent to prison remained hidden.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday (July 31), Mahim's sister Sanjana Akhtar Sneha posted a status on the social media Facebook saying that there was no trace of her only younger brother. The administration then took the arrest and jailing of the teenage student seriously.

In her Facebook post, Sneha recounted how Mahim left for college on July 18 but learned that exams had been postponed. He joined a protest with friends, and later got separated from them due to police tear gas. By 4 PM, she heard from friends that Mahim had been hit by a rubber bullet. He was then taken to a hospital by some local residents. After a fruitless search, the family received a call at 10 PM from someone claiming Mahim was in their custody and would be released the next day (July 19). They were also told not to inform anyone otherwise it would harm the boy. But when they inquired the next morning on July 19, the authority denied it saying that they do not have anyone with this name. Then at around 4:30 pm Mahim’s family got a call from the court that he was sent to jail.

She further wrote, “We learned from the court documents that he (Alfie) was arrested in a murder case of Abu Saeed. Since that day, I have returned from the prison door again and again. Let alone seeing him once, no one even allowed hearing his voice. The Metropolitan Court did not want to transfer his case to the Juvenile Court. After a lot of efforts, when the case was taken to the juvenile court on July 30, they gave a date of August 4. I don't know what the verdict will be on that day. But I want my brother back. I want him free of all charges.”

Sanjana Akhtar said, “The boy is a child according to the legal documents, how are they harassing him like this? Most importantly, he was wearing a college dress. He also had his ID card. He is a student of police institute. In this case, his educational institution, teachers, classmates, lawyers have nothing to do? At what logic have they locked up my brother, not even allowing us to see him!”

Alfie Shahriar Mahim completed his SSC from Siddique Memorial School and College last year. He is currently an eleventh-grade student at Rangpur Police Lines School and College. His father, Mohammad Shahjalal, is a small business owner in the Chawk Bazar area of Rangpur city.

Speaking over the phone, Mahim’s father Mohammad Shahjalal said, “The police commissioner called me. I took my daughter with me. He tried to arrange a visit with my son in the jail. But it was not possible. However, the police commissioner has assured us that Mahim will be released.”

Meanwhile, during the quota reform movement in Rangpur, on July 16, there was a clash between protesting students with the police and Chhatra League-Jubo League in front of Begum Rokeya University. On this day, Abu Saeed was shot dead by the police. A case was filed at Tajhat police station on July 17 in this incident. The plaintiff in the case is the sub-inspector of that police station and in-charge of Begum Rokeya University Police outpost Bibhuti Bhushan Roy.

Brief statement of the case mentions that at around 2:15 PM, the anti-state miscreants pretending to be students started raining bricks and stones from different directions and fired stray bullets with their firearms. To disperse them in order to bring the situation under control, the police also fired 169 rounds of rubber bullets from the APC vehicle using government issued shotguns. The entire university area turned into a battlefield.

It is said about the death of Saeed, a student was seen lying on the road at one point after the agitators fired bullets and pelted bricks from different directions. His classmates took him to Rangpur Medical College Hospital where the on duty doctor declared him dead. An unknown two to three thousand people have been accused in this incident.

Alfie Shahriar Mahim was arrested in this case. The issue came into discussion when his sister Sanjana Akhtar Sneha gave a Facebook status about his arrest and detention in jail.

The investigating officer in the case in which Mahim was arrested is SI Zillur Rahman of Tajhat police station. He said that “on that day (17 July) when our Tajhat police station was set on fire, he was picketing. At that time, along with police, RAB and BGB teams were also present at the scene. Then he (Alfie) was caught by the BGB.

Zillur Rahman further said, “On the day of the incident, the whole of Rangpur was violent. Alfie was taken into our custody. The next morning he was summoned to court in this case. But Rangpur was still violent the next day. Due to this, it was not possible to verify his age at that time. It means that it was not possible to verify so much about him. But according to the law, we cannot keep him for more than 24 hours. For this reason, he was sent away in a hurry. Anyway police commissioner sir called his parents today and assured him that he is young. He got a bail. Sir instructed to exempt him from the charge sheet.”

Abu Maruf Hossain, Deputy Commissioner (Crime) of Rangpur Metropolitan Police said, “When the police station was attacked, vandalized and looted on July 18, Mahim was caught by the law enforcement wearing jeans pants and tank top. He was then taken into police custody.”

 The Deputy Commissioner further explained, “Since the entire force was occupied with the clashes on July 18 and 19, verification was not possible. We began the verification process on July 20, and upon confirmation, he was arrested. As soon as the Police Commissioner learned about it, he decided that since Mahim was not involved in the incident but merely participated in the movement, he would be released on bail and cleared of the charges.”