A Dhaka court has granted the plea to show seven prominent political figures arrested in connection with three separate attempted murder cases filed at Mohammadpur and Mugda police stations, all tied to the violent incidents during the July movement.

On Monday, Metropolitan Magistrate GM Farhan Ishteaque approved the police investigators’ requests after the accused were presented in court. The petition was made to officially show them as arrested in the respective cases.

Those named include former Law Minister Anisul Huq, former adviser to the ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina—Salman F Rahman, and former Member of Parliament Barrister Syed Sayedul Haque Suman. Other individuals shown arrested include former ministers Rashed Khan Menon and Hasanul Haq Inu, former Dhaka North City Mayor Atiqul Islam, and former MP Sadek Khan.

In the attempted murder case filed over an attack on Shahriar Hossain Rokon during a demonstration in Mohammadpur on July 19 last year, the court granted arrest status to Anisul Huq, Salman F Rahman, Hasanul Haq Inu, Rashed Khan Menon, and Atiqul Islam.

Sadek Khan, meanwhile, has been shown arrested in two separate cases: one from Mohammadpur involving the same victim, and another from Mugda police station related to an attack on a lawyer.

According to the case file, Shahriar Hossain Rokon was shot in the left leg during a protest on July 19, 2023, near Mayur Vila Road in Mohammadpur. He collapsed on the spot due to the injury. A case was filed on September 3, 2023, by his father Monir Hossain, accusing several individuals of attempted murder.

In another case filed at Mugda police station, lawyer Abdul Baset Shamim was injured by rubber bullets allegedly fired by political operatives during the July protests on July 18, 2023, while returning from court. The rubber bullets struck his hand, forehead, chest, jaw, and abdomen. After initial treatment, complications resurfaced, and he was admitted to Mugda General Hospital on August 20. On September 1, he filed a case naming former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and 50 others. Former MP Suman is listed as the 25th accused in that case.

These arrests come amid growing scrutiny over the violent state response to last year’s anti-government protests, widely referred to as the July Movement.