Former reserved-seat MP Sabina shown arrested in attempted murder case

A Dhaka court today showed former reserved-seat MP Sabina Akter Tuhin arrested as a suspect in a case filed over the attempted murder of a cloth trader during the July Uprising in Mirpur.

The order was passed by Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ariful Islam following a plea by police today (21 May).

Earlier, the investigation officer Sub-Inspector Md Rashedul Islam of Mirpur Model Police Station produced the accused before the court and sought permission to show her arrested in the case.

In the application, police said preliminary evidence had been found linking the former MP to the "brutal attack" on students and protesters, making her arrest in the case necessary, confirmed Additional Public Prosecutor Shamsuddoha Sumon.

According to the case statement, during the July Uprising in July 2024, cloth trader Md Sirajul Islam and his brother-in-law were selling clothes on a van near the Fire Service area in Mirpur-10 when leaders and activists of the Awami League, Jubo League, Chhatra League and affiliated organisations allegedly opened fire on students.

Sirajul was reportedly hit by rubber bullets and later beaten with sticks, leaving him critically injured.

His brother-in-law was also allegedly shot shortly afterwards while packing clothes in the same area. A bullet struck his left leg, while tear gas shells fired by law enforcement officers allegedly caused complete damage to both his eyes.

He was later treated at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation and the National Institute of Ophthalmology.