More than 400 people were killed and thousands injured and arrested
Authorities have opened a murder investigation into Bangladesh’s ex-Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, over the police’s killing of a man.
The killing occurred during the civil unrest that took place across Bangladesh.
Hasina fled Bangladesh to India as civil unrest heightened and cries for her to stand down intensified.
Authorities are also investigating the former Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader.
The former Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal is also being investigated along with senior police officials following weeks of deadly unrest.
More than 400 people were killed and thousands injured and arrested, with the police shooting many.
Sheikh Hasina’s orders to respond to protests with violence and brute force led to her being called a dictator.
Businessman and private citizen Amir Hamza applied to bring the murder case in July after a local grocer, Abu Saeed, was shot in the head while crossing the road.
The accusation is that Saeed was killed by a police bullet while crossing the street in the Mohammadpur area of Dhaka. This is said to have occurred when police were firing on those protesting against quotas in government jobs.
The capital’s chief metropolitan magistrate’s court, Dhaka, accepted the case.
Hamza said he was not related to Saeed but approached the court because the grocer’s family did not have the finances to file the case.
Hamza told Reuters: “I am the first ordinary citizen who showed the courage to take this legal step against Sheikh Hasina for her crimes.
“I will see the case to an end.”
Magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury ordered the police to investigate the case. This is the first case brought against Sheikh Hasina since the protests started.
Hasina’s government was in power for 15 years. Many accused Hasina’s government of widespread human rights violations and deep corruption.
The student protests began in early July. They started as peaceful demands to scrap quotas in civil service jobs.
However, after violent state responses to the protests and media blackouts, the protests transformed.
The protests transformed into a wider movement to topple the government.
Hasina urged police to clamp down hard on the protestors.
Hasina referred to them as “not students but terrorists who are out to destabilise the nation”.
The recently formed new government contains many protestors and is led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus. The goal is to steer democratic reforms.
Nahid Islam, stated that Hasina should face trial for the killings during her term, including during the recent protests.
Islam is a Bangladeshi student leader who is seen as playing a key role in the ousting of Hasina. He is part of the interim government.
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