After 20 hours, police say they arrested two Khulna jute mill workers’ leaders

Police have acknowledged arresting two leaders of workers of a newly closed state-owned jute mill in Khulna in a previous case, twenty hours after some individuals claiming to be law enforcing agency members detained the two.

They were shown arrested at 12:15pm on Monday in a case filed with the city's Daulatpur Police Station.

Confirming their arrest, Daulatpur Police Station officer-in-charge Syed Mosharraf Hossain said the police box at the city's new road junction was attacked and vandalized on April 4, 2019, during a protest by jute mill workers.

A case filed by the police in the incident has shown that they have been suspects.

He added that the investigating officer of the case, SI Shahinur Rahman, had produced them in court at 10am seeking a seven-day remand. The court did not grant remand and sent them to jail.

On Sunday, family members alleged that Aliar Rahman, a worker of Star Jute Mill and a convener of Pat Shilpa Raksha Juba Jote, and Nur Islam, a worker of Platinum Jubilee Jute Mill and an adviser to Pat Shilpa Raksha Juba Jote, were abducted from their homes, which the police denied.

Meanwhile, Aliyar Rahman's son Naeem Sheikh said, "I finally could see my father. Police had been denying since my father was picked up. We did not understand whether it happened due to political or administrative reasons. No one knows how we spent this long time."

Munir Chowdhury Sohel, convener of the Khulna district branch of the Gana Sanghati Andolan, said, "I strongly condemn and protest against the abduction of the two labour leaders in the middle of night. A drama has been staged by arresting the labour leaders in a false case and wasting time."

Claiming that the government is carrying out these criminal activities for fear of public outrage, he said it has created a frightening situation among the families of the workers. "We demand the immediate and unconditional release of those labourer leaders."