"RMG leader Babul Hossain remanded over labour unrest", 16 November 2023

A readymade garment workers’ leader who was actively engaged in the ongoing movement for wage hike was remanded in police custody by a metropolitan magistrate court in Gazipur for a day on Wednesday afternoon, hours after labour rights activists reported that he went missing on Tuesday evening.

Garments Shramik Shamhati general secretary Babul Hossain was remanded by Gazipur metropolitan magistrate Ikbal Hossain in a case filed with the Bason police on October 30 against 1,100-1,200 workers over protests for wage hike in the industrial district. 

The police informed the court that they needed Babul Hossain for interrogation for his pivotal role in inciting ‘violence’ and vandalising vehicles during the protests.

In reply, defence lawyer Sohail Zamil Sarkar argued that Babul was not named in the First Information Report filed two weeks ago, but he was shown arrested on the charge which he was not involved with. 

His colleagues said that Babul was travelling to Gazipur to meet fellow workers and families of the workers affected during the protests, when he went missing between 7:00pm and 7:30pm on Tuesday.

He did not return home at night and his phone remained switched off, the family said.

‘We couldn’t reach him from Tuesday evening and found him in the court in the afternoon,’ said his wife Laizu Akhter. She said his husband has been actively engaged with the labour rights activities and movement demanding wage hike...

Earlier, Garments Shramik Shamhati president Taslima Akhter, in a statement issued on Wednesday, demanded safe return of Babul.

In the statement, she said that the state authorities are trying to suppress the workers’ protests for wage hike by creating a horrifying situation through enforced disappearances of the labour leaders.

She urged the authorities concerned to ensure safe return of Babul to his family and accept the workers’ demand of wage hike...