On July 1, 2024, Atiqur Rahman Rasel, a student at Dhaka College and the vice president of the college’s Chhatra Dal unit went missing after being abducted by plainclothes police officers.

Rasel remained missing for over one month, during which time his father filed a writ petition for his return with the High Court Division of Bangladesh’s Supreme Court. The petition prompted the High Court to order the police inspector general to report on Rasel’s location.

On August 6, Rasel was released from a secret detention center run by the then-ruling Awai League. He was dropped on a road in Dhaka, and borrowed a pedestrian’s phone in order to call his family. His family took him to the hospital with injuries; according to Rasel, he was tortured while detained.

Rasel’s release came amid the quota reform movement, a set of widespread student protests that began on the campus of the University of Dhaka, after a June 5, 2024 ruling by the High Court of Bangladesh reinstating a quota system – previously abolished in 2018 – which allocated government jobs to certain favored groups. The protests ultimately led to the resignation of Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina and the establishment of a new interim government.

Scholars at Risk is concerned about the detention without charge and alleged torture of a student activist, to retaliate for or prevent the nonviolent exercise of the right to free expression and assembly. State authorities must refrain from actions intended to punish, restrict, or deter the exercise of these rights. Such actions violate fundamental human rights and undermine democracy generally.

Sources:
https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/crime-justice/news/chhatra-dal-leader-missing-9-days-3652736
https://www.newagebd.net/post/country/240214/hc-asks-igp-to-report-whereabouts-of-missing-jcd-leader
https://www.observerbd.com/news.php?id=484681
https://www.icnl.org/wp-content/uploads/HRR_July-September_2024_English.pdf