Sessions Court Also Denies Bail to Major (Retd) Akhtaruzzaman in Airport Security Assault Case
A court has refused bail to Jamaat-e-Islami leader Major (retd) Mohammad Akhtaruzzaman Ranjan in a case over allegations of assaulting a security officer on duty at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, obstructing government work and creating disorder.
On Monday (October 26), Judge Sadekin Habib Bappi of Dhaka's Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court-5 rejected his bail.
Advocates Shishir Monir, Abdur Razzaq and several other lawyers argued for bail on behalf of Major (retd) Akhtaruzzaman. The prosecution, on the other hand, opposed the bail. After hearing both sides, the court rejected his bail.
Earlier, Dhaka's Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court had also rejected his bail. Akhtaruzzaman was sent to jail on October 4.
Airport security officer Md Shahriar Alam Sajib, as plaintiff, filed the case at the Airport Police Station on October 2. On the same day, DB police arrested Akhtaruzzaman from his home. The next day he was taken on a one-day remand.
According to the case allegations, on October 1 a 34-member Jamaat-e-Islami group returned to Dhaka from Madina with their family members. After landing at the airport, a shortage of trolleys during luggage collection, caused by the pressure of extra passengers, led to suffering. Arguments broke out between several people and airport staff over this.
The allegations say tension also arose over the delay in getting luggage and not receiving Zamzam water. Learning of the situation, Dhaka-5 MP Mohammad Kamal Hossain asked the airport's executive director, Group Captain SM Ragib Samad, to come to the spot. The executive director went there and tried to normalise the situation. At that point Major (retd) Akhtaruzzaman got into a heated exchange with him and used threatening and abusive language. To bring the situation under control, the MP moved the executive director away from there.
After the incident, Akhtaruzzaman also threatened several airport officials and employees. Several protocol assistants with him were filming the incident and saying they would spread it on social media.
The FIR further says security supervisor Warrant Officer Mohammad Kamal Uddin requested the people with Akhtaruzzaman to stop filming in the airport's KPI-listed area. At that time Akhtaruzzaman behaved indecently with him. At one stage he physically struck the security officer.
Later, when a representative of Biman Bangladesh Airlines went there, Akhtaruzzaman also behaved heatedly with him. At the same time he threw the bottles or containers holding the passengers' Zamzam water off the trolley.
The plaintiff alleges that this conduct disrupted the airport's normal operations and created security concerns among the officials and security personnel on duty.
