Case filed after 3 days over mugging and molestation on bus

Three days after the incident of mugging and molestation of female passengers on a running bus, a case has been filed with Mirzapur police station in Tangail, reports Prothom LAlo. 

A passenger of the bus, Omar Ali from Baraigram upazila in Natore, filed the case early in the morning today, Friday. Duty officer at Mirzapur police station, sub-inspector (SI) Khairul Bashar confirmed the news around 10:00 am.

Plaintiff of the case, Omar Ali said that he was mugged after boarding the bus around 11:00 pm last Monday. He has been dealing with the incident since then. He along with another passenger Sohag Hossain and their business partner Abu Hanif came to Mirzapur police station on a police vehicle around 4:00 am today. 

His signature was collected for the case statement. However, the statement was not read out to him. He has described the mugging incident and the molestation of two women, but does not know what was eventually written in the statement.

Omar Ali added that supervisor of the bus Sumon Islam, 33, driver Bablu Ali, 30, and driver’s assistant Mahbub Alam, 28, are also sitting at Mirzapur police station to file a case. Omar Ali said alleging, “They (the driver and his assistant) are involved in the incident. They will be the accused. Now, they themselves have come to file a case. I don’t understand what is happening.” 

When attempts were made to contact Mirzapur police station officer-in-charge Mosharraf Hossain, he did not pick up the phone call. However, duty officer SI Khairul Bashar has confirmed that a case has been filed with the police station regarding the incident of mugging in a running bus. He didn’t have the complaint and could not say what was written in it either.

The incident of mugging took place on a bus of ‘Amri Travels’ from Unique Road Royals that left Dhaka for Rajshahi on Monday night. According to passengers, the bus left Gabtoli bus terminal in Dhaka at 11:00 pm and the mugging started around 12:35 am. After mugging the passengers for three hours, the muggers directed the bus back to the same spot and got off at 3:52 am.

Then the bus driver, his assistant and the supervisor started making various excuses. They even said that the bus has run out of fuel. Finally, under pressure from the passengers, they started for Rajshahi again. The passengers first went to Mirzapur police station in Tangail with the bus to file a case. However, they were turned back as the officer-in-charge was not there at that time. Finally, the bus was taken to Baraigram police station after around 11:30 am on Tuesday.

Police arrested the supervisor, driver and driver’s assistant of the bus in the mugging incident. They were later released on bail. According to sources of the cognizance court in Baraigram of Natore, driver Bablu Islam, 35, driver’s assistant Mahbub Alam, 38, and supervisor Sumon Islam, 35, of the Unique Road Royals bus plying on Dhaka-Rajshahi route, were set to the court on Wednesday afternoon with documents signed by Baraigram police station SI Shariful Islam. When they were produced before the court in the evening, the court granted them bail following the hearing.