Chaos over mobile court

At least 15 traders were injured, eight with shotgun pellets, after police opened fire and charged truncheons on a group of traders during a mobile court drive inside Banani Super Market in the capital.

Traders claimed that the mobile court was fining them for silly and outlandish reasons.

Witnesses said Dhaka North City Corporation Magistrate SM Mahbubur Rahman, who led the drive, was surrounded by traders and a scuffle had broken out between the police and traders. The magistrate issued the order to open fire.

Traders of the market, owned by the city corporation, alleged that the magistrate with the policemen launched the drive around 11:00am and started to fine shops for "hanging goods in a disorderly manner" and "keeping chairs outside the shops".

A group of traders, including the market's traders' association general secretary Mahmud Hasan Azad, had approached the magistrate and protested. They also questioned the legality of the drive and wanted to see if the magistrate had permission for the drive.

They alleged that the magistrate got infuriated by this and censured Azad. The traders too were furious at this and a scuffle with the law enforcers ensued.

"At one stage, the magistrate ordered police to open fire at the traders," said Mohammad Milon, a shop owner.

Among the injured, Alamgir Hossain, Jamal Hossain, Mintu Sarker and Abdul Halim were undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital while the others received treatment at Kurmitola General Hospital and other hospitals. Halim was moved to DMCH from Kurmitola hospital.

The shop owners claimed that the mobile court drive was launched as the traders did not pay the magistrate illegal toll. They also claimed that the magistrate used to collect the toll through three agents.

BM Enamul Haque, chief executive officer of the DNCC, said the magistrate along with some policemen went there to evict structures erected illegally inside the market.

Being attacked and besieged by the shop owners and employees, police were forced to fire in self defence, he claimed.

Magistrate SM Mahbubur Rahman said he asked the traders beforehand to clear illegal structures erected under and around the staircases, blocking the stairs.

"Visiting there I asked the traders to remove the illegal structures, but instead of complying, Azad told me off and rushed towards the police," he said. Traders instigated by Azad also threatened him of confinement, he added.

The magistrate also alleged that when they came out, the traders threw brick chunks at him and the police, leaving three policemen injured. It was then he ordered firing shots in the air, Mahbubur claimed.

Azad vehemently denied the allegations made by the magistrate.

When magistrate Mahbubur's attention was drawn to an injured trader, who had more than 100 pellets in his back suggesting he was shot from close range, Mahbubur's shocking reply was that the pellets of a shot fired in the air might have fallen on the traders back.

He outright denied the allegation of collecting toll.

Officer-in-Charge of Banani Police Station Bhuiyan Mahabub Hasan said shots were fired after the traders attacked the magistrate when the mobile court went on a drive to evict illegal structures.