KILLING OF ARRESTED PEOPLE IN ‘CROSSFIRE’ HC wants to know who will give explanation

‘Who will give explanation for killing arrested people in police custody in cross-fire,’ the High Court Division wanted to know from human right lawyers at a hearing on Tuesday.

‘You, the human right lawyers know better,’ said a bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman turning to rights  lawyer ZI Khan Panna when he was moving the bail application of 19-year old Ayesha Siddiqua Minni.

ZI Khan submitted that the police superintendent of Barguna violated the Appellate Division’s standing order by interrogating Minni in the police line without warrants or without arresting her and alleging at a press conference that she made a confessional statement to him and falsely implicating her in her husband’s murder case.

ZI Khan submitted that Barguna judicial magistrate Sirajul Islam Gazi also violated the standing order of the Appellate division by allowing the police to interrogate 19-year old college girl Minni for five days in remand without sending her to jail custody.

ZI Khan Panna submitted that the police committed another violation of the Appellate Division’s order by killing Nayan Bond, the main accused in the Rifat Sharif murder case in so-called cross fire when he was in police custody after arrest.

The court wanted to know who would give the explanation when arrested people were killed in cross-fire while in police custody.   

At least 204 people were either killed by law enforcement agencies or died in the custody of the police or other law enforcement agencies from January 1 to June 30, said Ain O Salish Kendra in its half-yearly report released on July 1.

ASK said that 59 people were killed in crossfire with RAB, 92 with police, 12 with the DB police, one with joint forces, one with coast guard and 28 with BGB, two people were killed in police torture, two were shot dead by police, three were shot dead by BGB soldiers and one allegedly committed suicide in police custody. Besides, two people were found shot and killed and one died in RAB custody.’

In 2018 Bangladesh saw record extrajudicial killings of 466 people, either in custody or in alleged ‘gunfight’ and ‘shootout’, almost thrice  the number reported in 2017, according to an  ASK report released in January.

Of the 466 people, 292 were killed in the nationwide anti-drug drive that began on May 4, 2018, said the report, released at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity.

The report said that the extrajudicial killings increased alarmingly since the  anti-drug drive began.

SC officials said that 10 of the guidelines were mandatory for the police and the other law enforcements agencies while nine other directives were mandatory for the judicial magistrates and judges to follow when they deal with arrest and detention cases.

In 1998, the writ petition was filed after a series of custodial deaths, particularly the custodial deaths of Independent University student Shamim Reza Rubel, 18-year old Chittagong girl Shima Chowhury, and Arun Chakraborti of Lalbagh, in the Capital, which shook the nation.

Rubel’s death following torture in the custody of the Detective Branch on July 23, 1998 prompted the government to institute probe by one-member commission of former Supreme Court judge, Justice Habibur Rahman Khan.

Lawyers said that as the government showed no interest to implement the recommendations of the Justice Habibur Rahman commission to stop custodial deaths, prompted Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, Ain o Salish Kendra and Shomilito Shamajik Andolon, Arun Chakrabarti’s wife Sabita Rani Chakraborti and four others to jointly file a writ petition.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net