Sherpur District Jail has not been operational for one and a half months
September 22, 20243 Mins Read
RM Salim Shahi: Sherpur District Jail, which was destroyed by miscreants on the day of the downfall of Sheikh Hasina's government on August 5, has not been operational for a month and a half. It is still not possible to implement it due to the lack of responsibility of the authorities in taking quick action. On the other hand, two-thirds of the more than 500 hostages and inmates who escaped on the day of the attack are still outside, so various crimes are increasing, as the police activities are limited due to the non-functioning of the prison, and many accused are not appearing in court in various cases due to the fear of going to the prison of a different district.

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It is known that immediately after the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the final phase of the anti-discrimination student movement, thousands of people from different areas gathered in front of the district jail with indigenous weapons around 4:30 pm on August 5.

Seeing the dire situation, all the prison guards, including the officers and employees, left the prison. In that situation, about 8/10 thousand people broke the main gate of the prison with lathisota, ramada, domestic weapons and attacked, vandalized and set fire inside the prison. At that time they broke the main gate of the prison and entered and brought out 518 prisoners. Among the escaped prisoners, 10 are serving life sentences and 70/80 are serving various terms. And others are defendants in various cases under trial and investigation.

The attackers looted 9 of the 61 weapons in the prison, 864 rounds of Chinese rifles, 336 rounds of shotguns and cash, along with food and other items stored by the inmates. Along with that, he set fire to the valuable records, cars and various buildings of the prison.

The army came to the spot after receiving the news. With their help it is possible to save some weapons. The miscreants burnt the main gate of the jail, barracks of the jail guards, office room of the jail superintendent and jailer and all the furniture, kitchen, canteen of the residence. Wards, condemned cells and prison hospitals were vandalized. As a result, the district jail became a ruin. Meanwhile, a few days after the incident, a complaint was filed at Sherpur Sadar police station against 10/12 thousand anonymous miscreants as the plaintiff of the prison district, and it was raised as a regular case. But even though the video of that incident has been published in the media and spread through social media, no action has been taken regarding the case.

On the other hand, after miking by the army in charge of the local camp to return or report the location of the goods including looted weapons of the district jail, some goods including 9 looted weapons were found back, but due to mysterious reasons, due to the lack of effective action of the authorities, there was a long delay in the operation of the prison itself.

Superintendent of District Jail about the incident. Humayun Kabir Khan said that immediately after the incident, the local administration along with the prison department was informed. Also, the local public works department has been requested to take effective steps for speedy mobilization of the jail as per the instructions of the authorities. They said that they will start the repair work soon. He also said that although some of the looted bullets were not found, it was possible to recover 9 weapons. And among the fugitive prisoners, 125 have surrendered to the court, including those who have already been detained. Of them, 99 got bail, but 26 were sent to neighboring district jails.

On the other hand, Sardar Mahbubur Rahman, executive engineer of the public works department, said that the tender for the repair and renovation of the prison had to take time due to various processes. Now the processes are almost complete but it will not be possible to start the work before the first week of next month.

In this regard, District Magistrate and Deputy Commissioner of Sherpur Tarafdar Mahmudur Rahman said on Thursday afternoon, we are working to restore the prison from the rubble. It is hoped that the district jail will be operational by the middle of next month after completing the renovation work through the public works department. He expressed hope that various problems related to prisons will end through this.