I often think about all the times our kids took to the streets to ask for something ~ justice for their friends who were killed in road crashes or raped and brutally murdered. All they were doing were demanding road safety or an end to the culture of impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators. Each time, the authorities turned a blind eye to such protests. At times, their voices were simply ignored, while at others they were silenced with violence. 

But imagine something as harmless as asking for the protection of a playground. How can that land a parent and her minor child in jail—and without proper grounds and an arrest warrant? Where does this vulgar urge to flaunt power stem from? 

Advertisement

That is exactly what happened with Syeda Ratna, coordinator of Tentultala Math Rakkhya Andolon, and her 17-year-old son, who were detained on Sunday morning when they went live on Facebook to show Kalabagan police building a wall on the playground, while a group of kids accompanied by their parents were also protesting the act. When contacted, Sharif Mohammad Faruquzzaman, assistant commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (New Market zone), said the two were picked up for “obstructing police from discharging their duties.” 

Tentultala playground has been in the discussion for several months now, after the Dhaka deputy commission- er’s office handed over the playground land to the DMP on January 31 this year to construct a new establishment for Kalabagan police station. 

The one bigha land has been a playground, an Eidgah, and a place for namaz-e-janaza for over 50 years now. Locals, naturally, refused to give up the playground and for several months, they’ve been demonstrating against the DMP’s move to take possession of the land. It is in the continuation of the ongoing protests that when Ratna saw the walls going up around the playground, she decided to inform her fellow protesters of the turn of events, using the most viable tool at hand ~ social media. 

After 13 hours of negotiations and arguments, Ratna’s teenage son was finally let go at around 10:30 pm on Sunday, while Ratna was freed upon signing a bond that said she would not involve herself with any demonstration over the matter. 

How can a law enforcement agency curtail a citizen’s right to protest and make demands on their authorities in such a manner? 

A video recording went viral after the fellow protesters of Ratna and journalists went to the police station after the mother-son duo were detained. When asked if the on-duty officer knew how old the boy was, he said, “We can- not always confirm their age by simply looking at them.” 

And yet, without any confirmation, without any offence, they detained him. 

When those present at the police station asked the on-duty officer if they had issued an arrest warrant before detaining Ratna and her son, he said, “We don’t always need a warrant.” 

According to Section 54 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, there are nine instances where a law enforcement official can detain an individual without a warrant. 

A peaceful protest or documentation of an event might not, in our definition, fall under any of these clauses. But somehow, to our law enforcers, it was an act of “obstructing a police officer while in the execution of his duty.” A crime so horrendous that a protester can be taken into custody without a warrant.