The jail authority released 400 detainees yesterday; with this, 1,448 people were released up to 8:00pm yesterday during the last four days.

Finding no shelter, the relatives, mostly poor, have been spending the nights under the open sky at the jail gate.

Many relatives were found staring at the jail entrance, standing under the sun, with hopes that the next person coming out of the jail might be their dear one. Many were seen waiting with notes of the bail order issued even back on February 6.

Talking to the relatives waiting at the jail gate, it was found that mostly poor people were the victims of the blanket arrest ahead of the 14-party opposition combine's long march to Dhaka last February 5. Almost all of the victims are rickshaw-pullers, wayside vendors, tailors, garage workers and drivers. Some of them came to Dhaka to visit their relatives.

According to the latest information, around 8,000 people were arrested in the capital alone during the special drive. Of them, around 2,500 were sent to jail while police released others either after taking bribe from them or on recommendations from influential people.

Jahanara Begum, 50, came to the jail gate from Dhamrai on Tuesday morning as her only son Altaf Hossain, a rickshaw mechanic, is in jail.

She spent Wednesday night starved at the jail gate with around 200 others, hoping that her son--the lone bread earner for her five-member family--will be released by the next morning.

"The police picked him up from Dhamrai on Thursday on suspicion and he was granted bail on Monday, but he is yet to be released," Jahanara told The Daily Star yesterday afternoon. "The police arrested them in masses--why do you not ask the authorities to release them in masses too?" an angry Jahanara said.

Mannan Kobiraj, a 60-year-old farmer from Chandpur, along with his brothers Abul Khair and Abdur Razzak has been wandering in front of the jail gate for the last two days. Mannan's son Mohammad Hossain, 17, an embroidery worker who was arrested in Kalshi area on Friday, got bail order on Monday but was not released yet.

MASS ARREST: BLESSINGS FOR POLICE, SUFFERINGS FOR VICTIMS
Many mass arrest victims who did not bribe the police were implicated in false cases, mainly robbery and theft. Even some 14-year-old boys were not spared.

Sub-Inspector (SI) Karim of Mohammadpur Police Station allegedly picked up Murad Hossain, 14, a garage worker, and his friends Swapan and Chanchal from the College Gate area on Friday afternoon when they were returning home.

The relatives of the three alleged that the SI demanded Tk 6,000 for their release. The relatives of Swapan and Chanchal could arrange only Tk 2,000; so, the SI showed the two arrested on suspicion.

"As we did not give any money for Murad, the SI implicated him in an assault case and provided a wrong name of my father," alleged Murad's sister Parveen Akhter.

Now the jail authorities are not releasing Murad because of the different name of his father although he was granted bail on Saturday, she said.

When contacted, SI Karim, however, said he cannot remember arresting anyone named Murad and that the allegation against him is totally baseless. He also denied to have registered the names of the arrestees and their fathers.

"My mother is a patient of heart disease and further delay in Murad's release might lead to a serious situation," said a sobbing Parveen.

Garment worker Kuddus Ali, 18, of Tongi is another victim of how the police forced the victims and their relatives for bribes.

Coming out of the jail after having just got released, Kuddus said he was having tea at a local restaurant on Friday evening when an SI of the Ikuria Police Station came to him and said, "Come and follow me--I need to save my job." Later, Kuddus was picked up on a police van and shown arrested on suspicion.

Kuddus alleged that the SI took away his mobile phone and Tk 100 he was carrying. He, however, could not name the SI.

Anwara, mother of another victim Anwar Hossain, a rickshaw-puller, alleged that Demra police arrested her son at their Shonir Akhra residence on Friday and implicated him in a theft case as they did not meet an SI's demand for Tk 4,000 for his release. She also could not name the SI.