‘Only a Sniper Was Missing’ Comment on PM's Photo: Rajshahi College Student and His Farmer Father Now in DB Custody

The father of college student Md Abu Bakkar Siddik — detained over an objectionable comment on a social media post carrying a photo of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's Rajshahi visit — has also been detained. Md Aynal Haque and his son have both since been placed in the custody of the Detective Branch (DB) of police.

On Wednesday afternoon, October 21, the Special Response Battalion (SRB)-5 detained Abu Bakkar Siddik in an operation. His father Aynal Haque was later detained as well. Both are now in the custody of the Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

Confirming the matter, SRB-5 commander Lieutenant Colonel Faisal Ishtiaque said that after the detention they handed both men over to the DB. The DB will provide the details on the matter, he said.

Detained Abu Bakkar's home is in the Kechuatoul area under Chandrima Police Station in Rajshahi city. His father Aynal Haque is a farmer by profession. He has four children, of whom Abu Bakkar Siddik, his only son, is the eldest. Abu Bakkar is reported to be a first-year student in the history department of Rajshahi's New Govt. Degree College.

Inquiries found that alongside his studies, Abu Bakkar Siddik works transporting vegetables by van. He prays five times a day and is known in the area as a good young man. He is also associated with a group of bikers and travels long distances with them by motorcycle, it was learned.

Abu Bakkar's mother, Asmaul Husna, claims her son is innocent, hardworking and talented. She has alleged that he is being framed in this incident. The family's claim has intensified discussion of the incident in the area.

Sources in the police, DB and SRB said that at around 2pm on Wednesday, a team from the Rajshahi Metropolitan Police's Cyber Crime Unit and Chandrima Police Station went to his home. Abu Bakkar was not found at home at the time, and family members did not want to disclose his whereabouts.

At around 4pm, an SRB-5 team in plain clothes raided the house. Not finding Abu Bakkar, they detained his father Aynal Haque and questioned him. At one stage Aynal Haque said his son was hiding at his uncle's house in Gholharia village of Hat Ramchandrapur in Paba upazila. The SRB then took the father along to raid that house, and Abu Bakkar was detained from there. A mobile phone used by the family was also seized in the operation.

On Thursday morning, Chandrima Police Station Officer-in-Charge Monirul Islam searched the accused youth's home. Despite a search lasting about an hour, police found no evidence worth seizing; only the wrapper of a pen drive was seized. Police tried to recover Abu Bakkar's laptop, but family members claimed he did not use a laptop and had none.

Shariful Islam, assistant professor in the history department of Rajshahi New Govt. Degree College, said Abu Bakkar Siddik is a regular student of the college. He has sat his first-year final examination, though the results are not out yet. The teacher said he had seen nothing bad about Abu Bakkar at college.

Contradictory statements have also emerged over political involvement. Mahmud Hasan Limon, president of the college unit of Chhatra Dal, said he had heard from administration people that Abu Bakkar used to be involved with Chhatra League and now supposedly with Chhatra Shibir, but he himself had seen nothing at college and they did not really know him. Imran Nazir, president of Chhatra Shibir's Rajshahi city unit, said there is an attempt to blame Shibir whenever anything happens, but Abu Bakkar Siddik is not a member of their organisation. Chandrima OC Monirul Islam said no information was found that Abu Bakkar had ever been arrested before, there is no case against him, and no political involvement was found either.

The incident began with the Prime Minister's Rajshahi visit last Tuesday. That day, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman used a RUET bus to travel from the airport to Madrasa Maidan, then to a religious gathering and back to the airport. Countless people along both sides of the road greeted him, and the Prime Minister responded. Later, a Facebook page named 'The Beauty of Rajshahi' posted a photo of the Prime Minister sitting in that bus. In the comments of that post, Abu Bakkar Siddik wrote: 'Ah! There was a big opportunity. Only a sniper was missing.' That single comment is now at the centre of the father and son being in DB custody, and all eyes are now on what legal process follows.