Death in violence centring quota movement were unfortunate: HC

The High Court has observed that incident of deaths in the violence centring the quota reform movement were unfortunate and shameful.

An HC bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice SM Masud Hossain Dolon made the observation during the hearing of a writ petition on Tuesday.

Earlier on Monday, Supreme Court lawyers Aynunnahar Siddiqua and Manzur-Al-Matin filed the petition seeking orders from the HC on the authorities concerned of the government to immediately release the six coordinators of the anti-discrimination students' movement who have been kept in law enforcers' custody for security reasons, and to stop use of live rounds upon the protesters.

The HC fixed Wednesday for passing the order.

During the hearing, the HC said keeping the six quota protesters under the custody of the Detective Branch (DB) of police was unlawful.

"They did not seek safety. Keeping them under custody like this is unlawful. They should be either released or produced before the court as arrested," he added.

"What the police will do is clearly stated in the Code of Criminal Procedure [CRPC]. But none of us are doing our constitutional duty. We are ashamed of the violence and deaths of people during the anti-quota movement," the bench said.

The HC expressed its indignation over the release of a video showing six coordinators of the quota reform movement dining at the Detective Branch office in Dhaka, terming the incident a "mockery" of the nation.