Juba Mohila League Leader Sent to Jail with 1.5-Month-Old Infant

A court has ordered Shilpi Begum, a leader of the Juba Mohila League arrested in a case filed under the Explosive Substances Act at Tejgaon Police Station, to be sent to jail. She is currently nursing a one-and-a-half-month-old infant son. On Tuesday (April 21), Dhaka Additional Metropolitan Magistrate Awlad Hossain Muhammad Junaid passed the order after denying her bail application.

The accused was produced before the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court at approximately 2:00 PM. The investigating officer of the case, Sub-Inspector Sheikh Nazrul Islam, petitioned to keep the accused in custody, stating that sufficient evidence had been found regarding her involvement in the incident.

Earlier, based on secret information, Shilpi was arrested from her residence on Railway Colony Station Road in Tejgaon at around 7:15 PM on Monday. Following primary interrogation, the investigating officer’s petition noted that she had played an active role in suppressing the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement and argued that her detention was necessary until the investigation concludes.

During the hearing, defense lawyer Farzana Yasmin Rakhi applied for bail, pleading that the accused has a 46-day-old son and is recovering from a cesarean section. She requested bail under any conditions.

However, after the hearing, the court denied the bail plea. At 3:12 PM, as she was being led out of the courtroom on the fourth floor, she broke down in tears. Her infant son was then handed over to her.

She was seen breastfeeding her child on a bench in the court veranda before being taken to the court lock-up with the baby in her arms. Distraught, she told reporters, "I am being sent to jail with my baby for political reasons. I cannot take this anymore."

According to case documents, the complainant, Md. Tahmid Mubin Ratul, a second-year student at Dhaka University’s Institute of Modern Languages and an active participant in the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, was shot on July 16, 2024, in the Chankharpul area. While he was receiving treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Chhatra League members allegedly attacked them.

Later, on July 23, 2024, at approximately 6:45 PM, a group of 120–130 individuals allegedly acting under Shilpi’s orders attacked the student's residence with sharp weapons, pistols, and bombs. They reportedly vandalized furniture and electronics, causing damages worth 5 lakh BDT and looting goods worth 3 lakh BDT.

Bombs were also detonated on the street in front of the house, and the student’s father, Md. Sohel Rana, was reportedly beaten. The case regarding this incident was filed at Tejgaon Police Station on January 25, 2025.