Court orders reinvestigation into Pahela Baishakh assaults

A Dhaka court on Tuesday directed the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to reinvestigate the incident of women being assaulted on the Dhaka University campus during Pahela Baishakh celebrations.
Justice Jayasree Samaddar of the Dhaka Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-3 passed the order following a petition filed by Dipok Kumar Das.
Accepting the plea over the final report, the court ordered PBI to reinvestigate the incident and submit a report within 23 March.
Earlier on 13 December, 2015, the DB officer submitted the final report to the chief metropolitan magistrate court for disposal of the case filed in connection with the sexual harassment as eight people, who were identified through scrutinising video footage, could not be arrested.
On 22 December, Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Hasibul Haque sent the report to chief metropolitan magistrate Sheikh Hafizur Rahman for action.
Later, chief metropolitan magistrate Sheikh Hafizur Rahman sent the report to Justice Jayasree Samaddar of Dhaka’s Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-3 in January this year for final disposal of the case.
Dipok Kumar Das then also filed a petition with the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal to revive the case.
On 14 April in 2015, a group of youths assaulted and sexually harassed some women at Suhrawardy Udyan gate near Dhaka University’s TSC during the Pahela Baishakh celebrations.
A case was then filed with Shahbagh police station against an unspecified number of unnamed people on 17 April.