Latif lands in jail, finally
The deposed minister and Awami League leader Abdul Latif Siddique landed in jail after he surrendered to the police on Tuesday afternoon, two days after he returned to Dhaka from Kolkata. A court sent Latif Siddique to jail in a case filed against him for hurting the religious sentiment of Muslims by making derogatory remarks on Islam. He was sent to jail after several Islamist groups issued threats to enforce a countrywide general strike unless he was arrested. Latif Siddique appeared in Dhanmondi police station around 1:30pm and surrendered there. The officer-in-charge of the police station Abu Bakar Siddique took him to the metropolitan magistrate court. Several Islamist outfits, including Hefazat-e-Islami, were staging demonstrations since Latif Siddique returned to Bangladesh two months after staying overseas. They demanded capital punishment for making derogatory remarks on hajj, one of the pillars of Islam. They also threatened to enfoce a general strike on Thursday unless Latif was arrested. The Islamist groups on Tuesday afternoon cancelled the hartal programme after Latif Siddique was sent to jail. Dhanmondi police said that Latif Siddique had talked to them over phone before coming to the police station for surrender. The OC then talked to his superiors and kept a vehicle ready to take him to the court.
The police drove him straight to the court as soon as he surrendered. There had been rumours about where Latif Siddique had hidden himself before surrender as police or detectives could say where he had spent the last two days. Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner Monirul Islam said that there was an arrest warrant against Latif Siddique at Ramna police station. After he surrendered to Dhanmondi police, the investigation officer of Ramna police went there and took him to the court. Latif Siddiqui is facing 22 cases filed against him in 18 districts for offending religious sentiments. There were multiple arrest warrants against him. A section of lawyers at the metropolitan magistrate court marched in a procession brandishing and hurling shoes at the prison van as he was being taken to Dhaka Central Jail. Metropolitan magistrate Atiqur Rahman sent Latif Siddique to jail as no bail petition was filed and he also did not appoint any lawyer.
The metropolitan magistrate asked Siddique if he would like to appoint a lawyer to seek bail. Siddique said he did not appoint any lawyer and that he would like to represent himself. The court then ordered that Siddique be sent to jail in a warrant issued on October 28 as he did not appear before the court despite being summoned. lawyer Abed Raja filed the case on October 2 with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court mentioning that about 200 crore Muslims around the world were hurt by the derogatory comments Latif Siddique had made against Islam and hajj. Six other cases were also filed with the same court against Latif for the remarks he had made on September 28 during a visit to New York. A number of people shouted various slogans as they caught sight of Siddique in the court, and rebuked him for his comments. In his speech on September 28 at New York,
Latif Siddique said that he was dead against hajj and Tabligh Jamaat. ‘I am more against hajj and Tabligh Jamaat than Jamaat-e-Islami. It is sheer waste of manpower [and money]. Some 20 lakh people have gone to Saudi Arabia.’ After the court passed the order, several hundred people and lawyers marched in a procession demanding exemplary punishment of Latif Siddique. As he was taken to Dhaka Central Jail around 3:00pm, he refused to e0nter the jail through the pocket gate saying that he was still a parliament member. ‘I never entered or got out of jail through the pocket gate and I am still a parliament member,’ said Latif in front of the central jail. Policemen and jail authorities repeatedly requested him to do so, but he refused. The senior jail super Forman Ali then came out of the jail and led him inside through the main gate. Latif Siddique went into hideout after returning to Dhaka from Kolkata on the night of Sunday. Law enforcers or intelligence agencies could not give any specific information about his whereabouts until he appeared at Dhanmondi police station. State minister for home Asaduzzaman Khan on Monday said that there were some difficulties in arresting a lawmaker when parliament was in session and the speaker’s permission was needed before making the arrest. But speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury told reporters that permission of the speaker was not required to arrest a lawmaker outside parliament. The opposition Jatiya Party lawmakers also made statements demanding arrest of Latif Siddque.
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