The apparent refusal to grant temporary parole to a detained student leader, forcing him to see the bodies of his wife and nine-month-old son at a prison gate, has sparked nationwide debate over due process, discretion and humanity within the system.
Juel Hasan Saddam, the banned Bangladesh Chhatra League’s Bagerhat Sadar upazila president, is currently held at Jashore Central Jail. After the deaths of his wife, Kaniz Suborna Swarnali, and their infant son, Saddam was not released on parole to attend the funeral or offer final rites. Instead, prison authorities allowed the bodies to be brought to the jail gate so that he could see them briefly for the last time.
Officials say the decision was based on procedure. The authorities maintain that no written parole application was submitted to the Jashore district administration or the prison authorities. However, they say that, following verbal requests, humanitarian consideration was shown by allowing Saddam to view the bodies at the prison gate.
Saddam was arrested on 5 April last year in Gopalganj in connection with a sabotage case and was subsequently shown arrested in multiple cases. According to prison officials, he faces seven cases in total. While he has secured bail in six of them, he remains in custody in a case involving explosives and sabotage.
The Jashore jail superintendent, Abid Ahmed, told TIMES of Bangladesh that although Saddam had been granted bail in most cases, he continued to be detained under one remaining case. Police officials in Bagerhat said additional cases were filed against him over alleged attacks during the student protests of 5 August 2024.
Conflicting accounts have emerged over the parole request. The Jashore deputy commissioner said no written application had been received, making parole procedurally impossible. The Bagerhat deputy commissioner, however, confirmed that an application had been submitted there, adding that because Saddam was imprisoned in Jashore, the request could not be processed locally and had to be routed through the appropriate district.
As the bodies arrived at the prison gate, witnesses say Saddam broke down. Addressing his infant son, he said: “I could not be a good father. Forgive me, my son.”
According to his brother, Shahidul Islam, Saddam did not take the child in his arms. “He said he could not hold him now when he could not do so while the child was alive,” he told TIMES. Saddam stroked his son’s head, apologised to his wife, and took a handful of soil from the prison grounds, handing it to relatives to place on their graves.
Later that night, at around midnight, Swarnali and her child were buried at her father’s home in Bagerhat’s Sabekdanga village. Police had recovered her body on Friday afternoon from a house in the village, where she was found hanging. Her nine-month-old son was found lying lifeless nearby.
Police and family members have initially suggested that Swarnali, who had been living alone while her husband remained in prison, may have killed her child before taking her own life. On Saturday, her father filed a case with Bagerhat Sadar Model Police Station, naming unidentified individuals as accused. Police say further action will depend on the post-mortem reports.
