Jubo League leader Shilpi Begum freed from jail

Jubo Mohila League leader Mosammat Shilpi Begum, who was arrested along with her one-and-a-half-month-old child in a case filed at Tejgaon Police Station under the Explosives Act, has been released from prison.

She was released around 12:00pm from Kashimpur Women’s Central Jail on Wednesday (April 22). Family members and associates had been waiting outside the prison since morning to receive her.

Kashimpur Women’s Central Jail Senior Jail Superintendent Mosha Kawalin Nahar confirmed the release.

Earlier, on Tuesday night (April 21), Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Mostafizur Rahman granted bail to Shilpi Begum on a Tk 5,000 bond until submission of the police report.

Earlier the same day, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Aulad Hossain Muhammad Jonaid had rejected her bail application and ordered her to be sent to jail following a hearing. She was later granted bail on reconsideration.

She was produced in court with her infant child. The state's investigating officer, Sub-Inspector Sheikh Nazrul Islam of Tejgaon Police Station, sought to keep her in custody, stating that preliminary investigation revealed she had played an active role in suppressing the anti-discrimination movement and that her detention was necessary for a proper investigation.

Defence lawyer Farzana Yasmin Rakhi submitted the bail application. The court granted bail after a hearing on the reconsideration petition.

According to case documents, Dhaka University student Md Tahmid Mubin Ratul was an active activist of the anti-discrimination student movement. He was shot during the movement in the Chankharpul area on July 16, 2024. Allegations were later made that he was attacked while undergoing treatment in hospital.

The complaint states that on July 23, following Shilpi Begum's instructions, 120-130 people armed with local weapons, pistols and bombs attacked the student's residence, vandalised and looted the house, and beat his father. The case was filed at Tejgaon Police Station on January 25, 2025.