Mahfuzul Haider Chowdhury Roton, general secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), was arrested again yesterday at around 4:15pm -- immediately after he was released from Mymensingh Central jail.

Roton was taken to Kotwali Police Station after the arrest and later admitted to the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital (MMCH) with complaints of severe chest pain.

According to sources, the Mymensingh Jail authorities completed necessary formalities to release him in the afternoon after receiving the order for his release.

Army personnel picked up Roton, a student of Institute of Health Economics at Dhaka University (DU), and five other BCL leaders on January 16 last year from the central playground area on the DU campus. Roton had been detained in Dhaka Central Jail until being transferred to Mymensingh Jail on April 29 this year.

Rafiqul Islam, superintendent of police in Mymensingh, said Roton was arrested again under the Emergency Power Rules 2007.

Roton's family members alleged that due to Roton's involvement with BCL, the student wing of Awami League, the authorities have been holding him in detention for over 15 .months under the EPR without any proven allegation.

On January 17, 2007, he was shown arrested by Shahbagh police under the EPR. He was sent to the Dhaka Central Jail the same day.

On April 2 the same year, the High Court (HC) declared his detention illegal, but later the Appellate Division stayed the judgment. On November 7, the Advisory Board of the HC released the five other leaders who were arrested with Roton. However, the board gave another three months' detention to him. ? The same board on January 24 extended the BCL leader's detention for an additional three months.

Roton's father Absar Uddin Haider Chowdhury, assistant controller of examinations at DU, demanded unconditional release of his son on humanitarian grounds as Roton's health condition seriously deteriorated in detention.

His father also raised the question how Roton could violate the

EPR when he was arrested only five days into the promulgation of State of Emergency on January 11,2007.

In a joint statement, BCL central President Mahmud Hasan Ripon and its Acting General Secretary Syed Abul Kalam Azad, Dhaka metropolitan (south) BCL President Mamunur Rashid Shuvro and General Secretary Golam Sarwar Kabir, and DU unit President Sohel Rana Tipu and General Secretary Sazzad Sakib Badsha protested the fresh arrest of Roton and demanded his immediate release.

Threatening to announce tougher programmes for the release of its general secretary, the BCL statement, issued by Office Secretary Nasim AL Momin Rupok. said the government arrested Roton on political grounds only and violated his human rights.