A mother sits at a Cumilla police station with her son Niloy Sarkar’s SSC and HSC certificates. Police said he would be released if she could prove he was a student.Police picked Niloy up from Panpatti during a crackdown. His mother Mita Sarkar learnt later he was held at Kotwali.
On Thursday, she said: “They did well to detain him. The officers want what is good, that’s why they detained him. My son sits around chatting with boys at about 9pm -- he was doing wrong things, they brought him in, and that’s very good.”
Yasmin (pseudonym), aunt of an eighth-grader known only as Shipon, said: “He left home in the evening and police brought him in. Instead of keeping him detained, they could have beaten him a few times and let him go. Now his mother, brother and aunt all have to come to the police station. Isn’t it shameful?”
His mother Shabana Begum (pseudonym) said, “They picked him up at night from a broken building in Dhulipara. He was chatting with boys outside. Police say they won’t release him now.”
Jahanara Begum cried: “My son is 35. They picked me up from Amir Dighi last night. I don’t know why. I don’t know what my son did.”
Relatives of all 75 detainees waited. Parents said no innocent person should be punished.
Kotwali Police chief Touhidul Anwar said detainees had specific reasons. Some had links to a banned political party, robbery, drugs or juvenile gangs; most were unruly youths being handed to guardians after undertakings.
Across 18 police stations, 624 people were detained overnight for questioning, Additional SP Lutfur Rahman said.
The operation followed concern over juvenile gangs after 13-year-old Eshayat Shahriar Apratim’s killing.
In Daudkandi, 17 detainees allegedly escaped by breaking a room door. Lutfur blamed overcrowding, saying locals later caught and returned them.
FP/R 
