'Sniper' comment on photo of PM's bus: college student Abu Bakar Siddique on seven days' remand
A court has placed Abu Bakar Siddique, arrested over an suggestive Facebook comment about shooting with a sniper on a post carrying a photo of the bus used during Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's Rajshahi visit, on seven days' remand in a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Sarah Farzana Haque passed the remand order on Sunday following an application by the investigation officer. Sub-Inspector (SI) Shah Alam of the prosecution division confirmed the remand.
During the remand hearing, in reply to the judge's question, Abu Bakar Siddique said he had made the comment as a joke. Abu Bakar Siddique is a second-year honours student at Rajshahi New Degree Government College.
The incident began late on Wednesday night, when the Special Response Battalion (SRB) detained Abu Bakar Siddique from his home in the Kachuatoul area under Paba Police Station in Rajshahi. DB police later showed him arrested in the Anti-Terrorism Act case. He was sent to jail on Friday.
That same day, the case's investigation officer, SI Yasin Paik of the DB's Cyber and Special Crime Division, applied for seven days' remand. The court fixed Sunday for the hearing in the accused's presence.
At Sunday's hearing, investigation officer SI Yasin Paik argued in favour of remand. When the judge asked him about the accused's identity, he said no political identity of the accused had been found, and information could be obtained by interrogating him on remand.
The judge then asked Abu Bakar Siddique, standing in the dock, whether he had a lawyer. The accused said he did not. Prosecutor Muhammad Shamsuddoha Sumon, arguing for the state in favour of remand, said Prime Minister Tarique Rahman had been visiting Rajshahi and toured various Puja mandaps by bus, and it was during that visit that the accused commented about a sniper on the post.
The prosecutor said the comment could not be dismissed as a normal post. In his words, a conspiracy to assassinate the prime minister is under way, and seven days' remand is needed for interrogation to learn who else is involved and to pursue the sniper matter.
In reply to the judge's question, Abu Bakar Siddique said he had commented casually, had no intention, and had made the comment as a joke. The judge then asked whether anyone makes such a comment about a very important person and a sensitive matter.
The background is the prime minister's Rajshahi visit. Prime Minister Tarique Rahman arrived at Rajshahi's Shah Makhdum Airport by a military aircraft at around 3pm on Tuesday. From the airport, he entered the city on a bus of Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (RUET). People and party activists standing on both sides of the road greeted him, and he waved back from the moving bus. He later joined a rally at the historic Madrasa field in the same bus, and after visiting a temple for Durga Puja, returned to the airport in the same bus.
A Facebook page named 'The Beauty of Rajshahi' posted a photo of the bus used in the prime minister's visit. The caption asked, in effect: everything is understood, but where is the prime minister's red-green bulletproof bus in Rajshahi — why a RUET bus; do the people of Rajshahi know? In the comments, an account named Md Abu Bakar Siddique wrote: 'Ah! There was a big opportunity. Only a sniper was missing.' The comment spread on social media and sparked discussion.
SI Manik Hossain of the DB's Cyber and Special Crime (North) Division filed the case under the Anti-Terrorism Act at Ramna Police Station in the capital over the incident. It was stated at the hearing that during the seven-day remand interrogation, investigators will examine whether anyone else is involved behind the incident.
