No, you cannot check people's phones and vehicles

Illustration: TBS

Today [Thursday] morning, the roads in Dhaka were less crowded than usual. The national holiday for 15 August had been cancelled, but it appeared that most people were enjoying a break anyway. 

The traffic conditions in Dhanmondi road 32 and adjacent areas, however, were different. As I approached Mirpur Road from Panthapath, the traffic started to build up because the entry point to Dhanmondi 32 from Mirpur Road and the surrounding area was filled with people from all walks of life.

The protesting students' and the general public's right to privacy was violated a few days ago when the Sheikh Hasina government imposed a nationwide curfew amid the quota reform protests. People's mobile phones were then indiscriminately checked by police in the name of security. People's right to privacy was not upheld today either, as their mobile phones and vehicles were checked by the student mob. 

Most of the youth, aged between 18 and 25, were wielding green pipes, steel rods, and sticks. Although traffic continued to move on Mirpur Road, there were no traffic police on duty, unlike at other intersections in the city. Young people identifying themselves as students had taken over traffic control.

This wasn't entirely surprising, as students had managed the streets in the absence of traffic police for a week following Sheikh Hasina's ouster from power on 5 August. They had only returned home once the traffic police resumed their duties.

What was unusual today was that the students no longer seemed focused on controlling the traffic. The traffic situation remained as chaotic as ever, and they appeared to be more concerned with something else.

Whenever those "students" spotted anyone they deemed suspicious—whether pedestrians, rickshaw riders, motorcyclists, or even people inside private cars and buses—they rushed toward them and forcefully demanded to check their mobile phones, bags, and in some instances, their entire vehicles. Most of these "suspicious" individuals had one thing in common: they were wearing black, whether it was a Punjabi or a shirt.

The students were determined to prevent anyone from approaching Dhanmondi 32 to pay homage to the country's independence leader, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and his family members, who were tragically massacred on the fateful night of August 15.

Once it was confirmed that someone was either an Awami League activist, a supporter, or simply a general citizen trying to reach Dhanmondi 32, more people, including the students, gathered to drive them away. The mob of students even attacked some of these individuals, beating them brutally, before detaining them inside New Model Degree College.

I attempted to capture photos of a few such incidents, but I was quickly stopped by angry students who didn't want their actions documented by the media.

"Journalists are trying to make us look bad by publishing these photos and videos with misleading captions and thumbnails. I would like to humbly warn them not to make a similar mistake again. Otherwise, our relationship with journalists will deteriorate," one student was repeatedly heard saying through a microphone.

Interestingly, I noticed an eerie similarity between this incident and a particular day in July last year when both the Bangladesh Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) held separate rallies in the capital. 

On that day, police set up checkpoints in Gabtoli and Amin Bazar, arresting several BNP leaders and activists after checking their mobile phones. Additionally, near the BNP rally in Naya Paltan, their activists and supporters were harassed in a similar manner by both the police and Awami League activists.

The only distinction from today's incidents was that the police were not involved this time. They were stationed rather peacefully and passively in front of the Metro Shopping Mall, about 170 metres away from the Dhanmondi 32 bus stop. The student mob seemed sufficient for conducting the mobile phone checks.

What's extremely problematic about the entire ordeal is that the mere act of checking someone's phone, let alone other actions, is a violation of constitutional rights and an abuse of power, even when carried out by law enforcement agencies.

"The law enforcement agencies may check people if they have the information from the intelligence that some criminal activity is going to take place. But what happened yesterday (on 12 July, 2023) doesn't seem like that. This is clearly a violation of people's privacy, which is a right established by the constitution," Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua told me after the said incident last year. 

According to Article 43 of Bangladesh's constitution, "Every citizen shall have the right, subject to any reasonable restrictions imposed by law in the interests of the security of the State, public order, public morality or public health – (a) to be secured in his home against entry, search and seizure; and (b) to the privacy of his correspondence and other means of communication."

Even the protesting students' and the general public's right to privacy was violated a few days ago when the Sheikh Hasina government imposed a nationwide curfew amid the quota reform protests. People's mobile phones were then indiscriminately checked by police in the name of security.

People's right to privacy was not upheld today either, as their mobile phones and vehicles were checked by the student mob. Furthermore, preventing people from moving freely and physically assaulting them, as well as stopping journalists from doing their duties, constituted even greater violations.

Nusrat Tabassum, one of the key coordinators of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, acknowledged that the incidents occurring at Dhanmondi 32 were unacceptable, and claimed that no one under their banner was involved with those activities. 

"We are aware of the events happening at Dhanmondi 32 and are concerned about them. We, as coordinators, are currently discussing the situation among ourselves. Our movement has always been about peaceful protests, and we are against any kind of violence," she said, adding that they might issue a central statement regarding the matter.

Later in the day, Rifat Rashid, another coordinator, said in a statement that the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement does not support anything that violates people's privacy and that such actions are simply bringing back the old examples of discrimination. 

"Therefore, do not do anything that involves checking phones or disrupting the normal course of a citizen's personal life. Ensuring "freedom of personal life" is a crucial step in building a discrimination-free Bangladesh," he added.

"Just as it is a violation of privacy when Chhatra League checks someone's phone, it is also a violation when you do the same. We will oppose anyone who infringes on privacy," wrote another coordinator Hasnat Abdullah in his Facebook post.

Clearly, we do not expect such behaviour from students, regardless of their political ideologies. Having recently led the country in a historic uprising, they are now expected to lead changes and reforms for a better future. Repeating the same mistakes as an autocratic regime contradicts those aspirations.