Manner of an arrest termed insensitive

Criticism poured in from many social media users after Bipul Chakma, general secretary of Pahari Chhatra Parishad, was arrested when he was taking his ailing mother, a cancer patient, to hospital on Sunday.

Bipul's mother Nirudevi Chakma, who fainted seeing the arrest of her son, died the next day at the Khagrachhari Sadar Hospital.

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Since then, many Facebook users have been condemning the police action terming it “insensitive”.

On Tuesday, the authorities freed Bipul on parole for seven hours to join his mother's cremation.

He was sent back to jail in the afternoon after the funeral service at the cremation ground of Buddharampara in Logang union of Panchhari upazila in Khagrachhari district.

Bipul was taking his mother to a Chittagong hospital on a microbus. On the way, a team of Panchhari Police Station stopped the microbus and arrested him.

After his mother died, Bipul appealed to the district commissioner to allow him to join his mother's cremation. The DC granted him seven hours.

During the cremation, leaders of PCP and other organisations and locals were present. The PCP activists staged a demonstration there demanding his release.

According to police, there are 17 filed cases against Bipul Chakma with Panchhari and Khagrachhari police stations.