Police have dropped nearly 70% of the initially accused from the July 15, 2024 Dhaka University attack case, sparking outrage among plaintiffs and witnesses. Many excluded are influential Chhatra League leaders, despite photographic evidence and a DU probe linking them to the violence. Critics allege selective impunity and plan legal challenges, demanding an independent investigation into possible irregularities.
Nearly 70% of those initially accused in the case over the July 15, 2024 attacks on Students Against Discrimination at Dhaka University (DU) have been dropped from the police report. Most of those dropped are members of the Chhatra League, which was later banned by the interim government. The move has raised questions among plaintiffs, witnesses and other stakeholders about the investigation.
National Citizen Party (NCP) leader and then coordinator of Students Against Discrimination Mahin Sarkar filed a case with Shahbag Police Station on October 21, 2024, naming 391 people, including ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and then Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader, along with 800 to 1,000 unnamed individuals.
Another case was filed with the same police station by NCP leader Advocate Arman Hossain, naming 220 people and accusing another 150 to 200 unidentified individuals.
The investigations into the two cases were initially assigned to separate officers, but responsibility for both was later handed to a Detective Branch (DB) official.
Masum Sardar, the investigation officer, filed a ‘final report’ in Arman’s case, recommending its disposal for lack of sufficient information, evidence or witnesses, without charging any of the accused.
Of the 391 identified accused named in Mahin’s case, 260 were omitted from the charge sheet, leaving 131 of the original accused facing trial. The charge sheet also added 64 names from Arman’s case, bringing the total number of people sent to trial to 195.
The development has prompted allegations that influential leaders and activists of the then-ruling Awami League and Chhatra League were selectively spared.
The plaintiffs are preparing to file naraji (objection) petitions challenging the investigation report in court.
Arman said he has no confidence in the charge sheet and that the omission of several “significant” accused from it was completely unexpected.
Mahin echoed the same concern, saying he is discussing the matter with senior leaders of his party, the NCP, to decide on the next steps.
Among those dropped from the case are several highly influential and well-known Chhatra League leaders from its central, DU and hall-level units who directly took part in the attacks on peaceful protesters at Mal Chattar on July 15.
Daily Waadaa found that only four leaders of the Chhatra League unit at Haji Muhammad Mohsin Hall were included in the charge sheet, while students at the hall said more than 100 leaders and activists of the unit were involved in the attack.
An analysis of photographs showed that Sakhawat Hossain Shanto, joint secretary of the Mohsin Hall Chhatra League unit; Ainul Islam Mahbub; cultural secretary Shoaib Ahmed Sajib; deputy office secretary Arafat Hossain Mahin; deputy secretary Enamul Haque Palash; organising secretary Maksudur Rahman Jihad; Ahsan Habib Rabbi; and Sonet Islam were directly involved in the attack. Yet their names have been dropped from the charge sheet.
The names of Sakib Arafat Mridha, deputy office secretary of the Chhatra League unit at Kabi Jasimuddin Hall, and member Mohammad Yusuf have also been excluded from the charge sheet, although Waadaa obtained photographs showing them attacking protesters with rods and sticks.
Those excluded from the case also include Mefthahul Islam Pantho, the organisation’s office secretary; organising secretaries Nazim Uddin and Harun-ur Rashid; DU Chhatra League’s first joint general secretary Nahid Bhuiyan; Dr Muhammad Shahidullah Hall Chhatra League General Secretary Sharif Ahmed Munim; Aminul Islam Bulbul, president of Muktijoddha Mancha; Antara Das, president of the Chhatra League unit at Rokeya Hall; Kohinoor Akter Rakhi, president, and Sanjina Yasmin, general secretary, of the Chhatra League unit at Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Hall; Rajia Sultana Kotha, president, and Jannatul Hawa Akhi, general secretary, of the Chhatra League unit at Kabi Maitree Hall; and Puja Karmakar, president, and Rima Akter Dolly, general secretary, of the Chhatra League unit at Begum Sufia Kamal Hall, along with many other identified leaders and activists.
An active participant in Students Against Discrimination and a leader of the Mohsin Hall Students’ Union, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an unusually large number of Chhatra League leaders had been given exemption in the case.
“Seeing the charge sheet, it appears that only 195 League leaders attacked us that day,” he said.
In March 2025, the DU administration suspended 122 students after a fact-finding committee found evidence of their involvement in the attacks on students on July 15.
Waadaa’s analysis found that some students included on the university’s suspension list were later dropped from the police charge sheet.
The DU fact-finding committee found clear evidence that Riaz ul Karim Riyad, organising secretary of the Chhatra League unit at Mohsin Hall; Nazim Uddin, central Chhatra League organising secretary; and Mohammad Yusuf, a member of the Chhatra League unit at Jasimuddin Hall, took part in the attacks. All three, however, were spared from the police charge sheet.
Waadaa failed to obtain a response from police investigation officer Masum Sardar despite repeated attempts, as his phone remained switched off.
Abdul Kader, a former coordinator of Students Against Discrimination and one of the witnesses to the July 15 attack, said they had repeatedly tried to contact the investigating officer before and after the charge sheet was submitted, but the officer did not answer their calls.
“We do not know whether the officer dropped the names of the identified accused after receiving any undue benefit,” he said.
He said the complainants would decide what legal action to pursue, but he would continue fighting for justice.
“Even if their legal efforts fail, I will continue protesting with ordinary students because this is a clear injustice to the students,” Kader told Waadaa.
Mohammad Masum, a student of the 2020–21 academic session at Bijoy Ekattor Hall of DU and the No. 1 witness in Mahin’s case, said the case was primarily filed against those who were directly or indirectly involved in the July 15 attack.
“We expected everyone concerned to be brought under due process of law. But, unfortunately, we are hearing that many of those who genuinely represented Chhatra League on campus at the time have been dropped from the charge sheet. This is deeply disappointing,” he said.
Masum strongly demanded that an independent government agency investigate whether any financial transaction or irregularity was involved in the preparation of the charge sheet.
Protests under the banner of Students Against Discrimination began in early July 2024 against the reinstatement of quotas in government jobs.
The situation escalated after Hasina referred to the protesters as “the grandchildren of Razakars” on July 14 during a press briefing at Gono Bhaban after returning from a visit to China.
Following her remarks, DU students protested that night. The next day, Obaidul Quader declared, “Chhatra League will respond to the protesters.”
In the afternoon, the now-banned Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League, attacked protesters with rods, sticks, bricks, machetes and firearms on the Dhaka University campus. Helmeted attackers detonated crude bombs and opened fire, turning parts of the campus into a battlefield and seriously injuring more than 300 students, including female students who faced harassment.
The assault shocked the nation and drew hundreds of thousands more people into the protests, which eventually culminated in Hasina’s ouster on August 5, 2024, just three weeks later.
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