The Asiapost News

Dhaka, June 1, 2025 – In a plot twist worthy of a dark comedy, Md. Solaiman Hossain Selim, a Mymensingh businessman supposedly gunned down by none other than Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has strolled into a police station to declare, “I’m not dead, folks!” This jaw-dropping revelation doesn’t just expose a family feud gone haywire—it lays bare the shambolic state of Bangladesh’s judicial system under an interim regime that seems to have handed the reins to vengeance-driven Islamists and their cronies.

A ‘Murder’ That Wasn’t

On August 30, 2024, Jatrabari Police Station recorded a murder case claiming Selim was shot dead on August 3 in Dhaka’s Kajla area during the chaotic anti-discrimination protests that toppled Hasina’s government. The case, filed by Selim’s own brother Golam Mostafa (alias Mastu), audaciously named Sheikh Hasina, her Awami League colleague Obaidul Quader, and 150-200 shadowy “unknowns” as culprits. The catch? Selim was alive and well, minding his grocery store in Mymensingh’s Dhamar Beltoli Bazar, blissfully unaware of his supposed martyrdom.

“They listed me as dead. If they could, they’d have made it real,” Selim fumed to Ajker Patrika. “I’ve had to drag myself to Jatrabari Police Station and the Detective Branch five times just to prove I’m breathing.” His wife, Hajera Khatun, pointed fingers at Selim’s three brothers, alleging they cooked up this farce to snatch his land, a scheme backed by a prior attack in 2022 that locals thwarted.

A Family Plot Meets Political Chaos

The roots of this absurdity lie in a two-decade-old family squabble over land inherited after their father’s death. With Selim childless, his brothers—Mostafa, Helal Uddin, and Abul Hossain—saw a chance to grab his share. Mostafa, a local thug with a rap sheet boasting two murders and an extortion case, allegedly saw the post-Hasina turmoil as the perfect cover to frame his brother as a protest “martyr” while smearing the ousted Awami League. The result? A murder case so flimsy it’s practically performance art.

The police’s role in this fiasco raises eyebrows. “How do you file a murder case without checking if the victim’s actually dead?” Selim demanded. Fulbaria Police Station’s OC Mohammad Ruknuzzaman admitted to BBC Bangla that Mostafa, a “known robber” absent from the area for 15 years, likely exploited the political upheaval to push his agenda. Sub-Inspector Aminul Islam, the third officer tasked with untangling this mess, confirmed Mostafa is now on the lam, his phone off and whereabouts unknown. A DNA test looms, but the question lingers: how did such a ludicrous case even make it to the books?

A Judicial System in Freefall

This isn’t just a family drama—it’s a glaring indictment of Bangladesh’s crumbling judicial framework under Muhammad Yunus’s interim government. Since Hasina’s ouster in August 2024, the administration, propped up by Islamist factions that fueled the coup, has turned a blind eye to a flood of baseless cases targeting Awami League figures. Over 100 murder charges against Hasina alone, many as shaky as this one, suggest a judiciary less interested in truth than in settling scores. The police, apparently too busy or too complicit, have become a conveyor belt for unverified claims, leaving citizens like Selim to fight for their own existence.

Local voices are fed up. “This is a mockery of justice,” said Imtiaz Ahmed, president of Mymensingh’s Samaj Puran Sangkritik Sangha. “The police need to stop rubber-stamping fake cases.” Witness Ruhul Amin called it an “extreme conspiracy,” demanding punishment for the perpetrators. Meanwhile, Selim, who built a new life on 250 decimals of land, lives in fear of his brothers’ next move.

The Cost of Political Vendettas

The Selim saga is a microcosm of a nation teetering on the edge. The interim government’s cozy ties with Islamist agitators have unleashed a wave of vindictive litigation, turning courts into battlegrounds for personal and political grudges. As Bangladesh reels from the 2024 uprising’s violent aftermath—over 1,400 dead, per UN estimates—the failure to vet cases like this one fuels distrust in institutions already on life support. Selim’s plight, as he told BBC Bangla, is a grim joke: “What’s sadder than proving you’re not a corpse?”

With Mostafa still at large and the police scrambling to save face, this case stands as a sardonic reminder: in today’s Bangladesh, even the “dead” can’t rest easy when justice is hijacked by chaos and revenge.

Sources: Ajker Patrika, BBC Bangla, Dhaka Tribune