A court has ordered 45 people to be sent to jail in connection with the attack and vandalism at the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) building in Agargaon over the launch of the National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR) system.
Court sources said the accused were produced before the court on Friday in a case filed by BTRC with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station, after which Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Israt Jahan ordered their detention.
The case investigation officer Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station sub-inspector Shamsuzzoha Sarkar told the court that the detainees had admitted their involvement in the vandalism during preliminary interrogation.
Efforts are underway to identify those who directly or indirectly instigated the violence, he said, adding that remand may be sought later if necessary for the sake of investigation.
Lawyers for the accused sought bail, while the state opposed the plea, and following hearings from both sides, the court rejected the bail petitions and sent the 45 to jail.
According to the case statement, mobile phone traders in Bangladesh had been staging protests over various demands, and several meetings were held between the protesters and the BTRC chairman.
However, following a final decision by the higher authorities, the NEIR system was officially launched on Thursday, 1 January.
The case document said that angered by the launch, the 45 detainees, nine others currently on the run and 500 to 600 unidentified people gathered in front of the BTRC building in the Agargaon area under Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station around 3.30pm on Thursday.
They chanted slogans and later vandalised the BTRC building, damaging walls, outer glass panels and other installations, causing an estimated Tk2 crore in losses, according to the case file.
The document also said a 51-seat air-conditioned staff bus of the BTRC parked in front of the building was vandalised, causing damage estimated at Tk1 lakh.
As law enforcers arrived at the scene, the protesters attempted to flee, and 45 people were detained from the spot while others managed to escape, the case statement said.
The case was filed with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station by BTRC Legal and Licensing Division assistant director Mohammad Ashrafulzaman Jahed.
A total of 54 people have been named as accused in the case, alongside 500 to 600 unidentified individuals, according to the statement.
The government and the BTRC aim to make Bangladeshi SIM cards unusable in mobile handsets that enter the market outside legal channels by implementing the NEIR system, in a move intended to strengthen security and government revenue.
However, due to repeated delays in launching the system over the years, many handset traders invested heavily in illegal or informal phones and had been protesting to push back the implementation of the NEIR to sell those devices.
