Ten years into the brutal murder of journalist couple Mostafa Sarwar aka Sagor Sarwar and his wife, Meherun Runi, none has been charged through investigation, let alone delivery of justice.
Family members of the two slain journalists, professional colleagues and a cross section of people have expressed their resentment time and again seeing the failure to identify and bring the killers to book.
Saleha Monir, the 70-year-old mother of murdered journalist Sagor Sarwar, says she has stopped thinking about justice.
“Is the administration too weak to find out the identity of a group of perpetrators in a decade? I no longer think about justice,” she said when she was interviewed by a Bangla daily ahead of the 10th anniversary of the double murder.
“If I could only know who behind the double murder was, then I just would have asked them what my son’s offence was,” said the mother with tearful eyes.
On February 11, 2012, a group of unidentified assailants killed both Maasranga Television News Editor Sagar Sarowar and his wife, ATN Bangla senior reporter Meherun Runi at their rented apartment in the city’s West Rajabazar area.
Many have expressed their feelings about uncertainty in justice delivery, giving posts on the social media. “No such murder has taken place in this city,” a journalist wrote. Another of them added, “We had no colleagues named Sagor and Runi!”
The deadline for submission of final probe reports styled charge-sheets to the court has been extended 84 times whereas the then home minister, Ms Sahara Khatun, had publicly announced that the killers would be caught within 48 hours.
On January 24, 2022, a Dhaka court asked the elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) to submit the report by February 23.
Ms Saleha reportedly asked: "Do you think there will be any headway in the current investigation into the Sagar-Runi murder case?"
She added, Runi’s mother Norun Nahar died without seeing justice. “Now it's my turn. My time is also running out,”she said.
As Megh, the son of Sagar and Runi, grows up, he is becoming increasingly upset, said Nowsher Alam, Runi’s brother. “He fell sick after her grandmother (Runi’s mother) died last month, but didn’t cry.”
“As he regularly watches news about his parents’ murder, he suddenly asked, ‘What’s the meaning of the word Dhamachapa' (covering up)?" the uncle added.
Journalists have been staging demonstrations since the murder took place, demanding arrest of an exemplary punishment for the killers.
Members and Leaders of the Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) and the National Press Club, both factions of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and Dhaka Union of Journalists, and Crimes Reporters’ Association of Bangladesh raised their voice demanding justice.
On October 1, 2012, law enforcers arrested one Tanvir in connection with the murder. Tanvir obtained bail in 2014.
The police have so far arrested eight people, including Tanvir, in this connection.
The seven other suspects are Rafiqul Islam, Bakul Mia, Abu Syed, Mintu alias Baggira Mintu alias Masum Mintu, Quamrul Hasan alias Arun, security guard Enam Ahmed alias Humayun Kabir and Palash Rudra Pal.
On March 2, 2021, RAB submitted a progress report in the affidavit form to the Attorney General’s Office, claiming that two unidentified people were involved in the murder.