KILLING ALLEGEDLY BY POLICE
Rights defenders demand independent inquiries
They expressed their reservations about the institution of the police committee to investigate the death of Mizanur Rahman, who the police claimed was killed in a 'gunfight' on Thursday but his family said was picked up by the police on Tuesday.
The rights activists said such an investigation would not be impartial and acceptable. They made the statements after three incidents of killing allegedly in the custody of the Darussalam, Gulshan and Ramna police had taken place.
Transport worker Mujibur Rahman was found dead in the River Turag at Mollartek on Friday morning after being picked up by plainclothesmen on Thursday night.
The plainclothesmen picked him up when he was going to buy a football for his seven-year-old son Iqbal. Before taking him away, they beat Mujibur and dipped him in the river in front of the child.
The police claimed businessman Mizanur Rahman was killed in 'gunfight' early Thursday but his wife Taslima Begum said the police had picked him on Tuesday morning and demanded money. As she failed to satisfy them, they shot him dead at night, she told reporters.
Auto-rickshaw driver Babul Gazi died allegedly from severe beating in the custody of the Ramna police on June 28.
Although the police on Saturday formed three committees to investigate the three incidents, the rights defenders doubted the impartiality and acceptability of such inquiries as the police were assigned investigation of allegations against their fellows.
According to them, such an inquiry is against the principle of natural justice and also in violation of a High Court verdict.
In the verdict, delivered in 1998 in the death reference and appeal regarding the rape and murder Yasmin, a housemaid who was raped and killed by three policemen on August 24, 1995 in Dinajpur, the High Court observed such allegations against the police should not be investigated by the police.
The investigation by the police in a case, in which policemen are accused, is against the principle of natural justice and such cases need independent inquiries by a competent agency other than the police, the court observed.
Former National Human Rights Commission chairman Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury has also repeatedly recommended that the government should carry out independent inquiries of each of the allegations of extrajudicial killing.
On June 21, he iterated the recommendation, which he made on December 6, 2009, as the government has so far initiated such inquiry of only five such incidents.
At a briefing at the commission launching its annual report towards the fag end of his tenure as chairman of the commission, Amirul Kabir said, 'Independent inquiries should be conducted for each of the incidents of extrajudicial killing as there are conflicting statements from law enforcers and families of the victims in most such cases.'
'As an executive inquiry by a magistrate of such incidents of crossfire is not transparent, each of the incidents should be investigated by an independent inquiry committee of at least three members, composed of a government official not below the rank of deputy secretary, a police officer not below the rank of superintendent of police and a civil society personality of the choice of the victim's family,' he said.
He came up with the recommendation on December 6, 2009 when he submitted the annual commission report to the president.
Fawzia Karim Firoze, a member on the reconstituted National Human Rights Commission, on Saturday condemned the incidents of death in custody and said there should be independent inquiries in such cases. She also said the human rights commission should be involved in investigation of the incidents.
'Such incidents are not expected at all. An independent inquiry should be carried to ascertain the truth and punish the persons responsible,' she said.
The law minister, Shafique Ahmed, on Saturday said action would be taken against the policemen concerned if the accusations were proved.
He made the comment on the sidelines of a workshop on 'Draft Laws for Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Educational Institutions and Workplace' organised by the Law Commission and the Bangladesh National Woman Lawyer's Association at the BRAC Inn in Dhaka.
The state minister for home, Shamsul Haque Tuku, on Saturday told New Age, 'We have taken it seriously. The ministry will look into the incidents of killing allegedly by the police.'
The police have already given its statements on the incidents and also initiated inquiries, he said.
Asked whether the police inquiry of the incidents would be fair, he said the ministry would look into the allegations against the police as reported in the media.
Such statements of the ministers, however, could not satisfy the rights defenders, who are gravely concerned about people's right to life as the law enforcers allegedly continue killing people in custody.
Talking about the recent such incidents, jurist Shahdeen Malik said not only the Rapid Action Battalion but also the police had become killers. 'As apprehended, extrajudicial killing is becoming the norm of all types of law enforcement agencies. It will not be at all surprising that the police will hold an inquiry only to establish that the person killed was guilty,' he said.
Rights group Odhikar secretary Adilur Rahman Khan saw the recurring incidents of death in custody as a result of the failure of the systems and the system would collapse if such failures could not be stopped now.
'We could see only three cases of repression by the police through. There are court orders for independent inquiries and not to torture people in custody but nobody bothers them,' he said.
'A human rights commission has been formed but we are yet to see any action,' he said.
Writer Azfar Hussain demanded independent inquiries of the incidents. 'There remains a peculiar similarity between the Bangladesh's police system and the character of the state. A kind of fascism is in practice everywhere which results in victimisation of the common people.'
Playwright Mamunur Rashid, also a rights defender, said it was not acceptable that the police would carry out investigation against policemen. 'I totally agree to the court ruling regarding such investigations.'
'It is still matter of regret that the police could not be made humane. We expected that the police would act neutrally and humanely. But hopes have remained hopes.'
Writer Shahriyar Kabir, also a rights activist, called for judicial inquiries of the killings. 'No departmental inquiry will be acceptable in such incidents. It is unfortunate killings in custody continue to take place. Successive governments have remained silent about such matters that tarnish Bangladesh's image abroad,' he said.
Three families, whose bread earners were killed allegedly in police custody in the span of a week, have urged the government to conduct impartial and independent inquiries to bring the perpetrators to book.
The families said that the
police who had killed their dear ones formed so-called probe committees in a bid to save the culprits.
The Darussalam police recovered the body of transport worker Mujibur Rahman, 48, from the River Turag at Baghbari on the fringe of Dhaka on Friday morning but his family claimed the victim was picked up by police on Thursday evening.
On June 1, a businessman Mizanur Rahman, 35, was killed in a 'gunfight' between the police and crime suspects at Gulshan but his family said the police had picked him up two days before the killing.
On June 28, CNG-run three-wheeler driver Babul Gazi, 40, was killed allegedly in the custody of Ramna police and his family alleged the police had killed him after he refused to pay them bribe. The police said they suspected Babul had been involved in CNG-run auto lifting and that a case had been filed against him.
One could be involved in wrongdoing like mugging or car lifting, but how is it possible that he is killed in police custody in a civilised society, the relatives of the victims' families told New Age on Saturday.
When approached, Gulshan, Ramna and Darussalam police stations failed to produce any evidence to prove that there were serious allegations or cases of crime against the slain persons.
The officer-in-charge of Darussalam police station, Abdul Malek, on Saturday told New Age locals believed slain Mujibur Rahman was a drug peddler and that the police were looking into whether there were any other allegations against him. But Mujibur's neighbours disputed the claims saying that they knew him as a drug addict but never found him involved in drug peddling.
Darussalam police said they had earlier on June 10 arrested Mujib on charge of drug addiction and he was released on bail.
The victim's father Ibrahim alleged that at time the police had demanded Tk 20,000 and he was released on payment of Tk 7,000.
In the face of mounting protests against the alleged killings in custody, particularly by the rights activist and media, Dhaka Metropolitan Police formed separate committees to investigate the three incidents and asked them to submit reports in 10 days.
The police claimed that the reports carried by the media about the incidents were 'exaggerated' and 'not based on facts.'
Demanding punishment of the culprits, Shuvo Akter, widow of Babul Gazi said, 'My family is ruined after my husband's killing…He was killed by police after torture and I want justice.'
The locals at Darussalam alleged that the police were extorting money regularly from small traders after detaining them or threatening them with dire consequences.
Ibrahim said he believed Darussalam police had beaten his son to death as five men, including sub-inspectors Hekmat Ali and Moshiur and assistant sub-inspector Billal and their informants – Muhibul and Kajal – picked up the victim while he was returning to his house at Baghbari in the area along with his son Iqbal Hossain, 8, on Thursday evening and since then he had been missing.
Iqbal Hossain said that he saw some people handcuff his father and beat him up when he reached Melartek Ghat.
'My father was tied with a rope around his neck and struck repeatedly with a pistol,' Iqbal said.
The police arrested Muhibul and Kajal in this connection after a case was filed by the victim's father on Friday and a Dhaka Court granted two-day remand for them.
In Madda Badda, from where Mizan was picked up early Tuesday and later killed allegedly in a gunfight, the locals said that the police were extorting money from small traders regularly and threatening them on refusal.
The locals in the afternoon brought out a rally demanding punishment of Mizan's killers.
On March 9, businessman Zakir Hossain, 45, who was picked up on charges of car lifting, was killed allegedly in police custody.
HC rule hearing not in sight
The law enforcers continue killing people in extrajudicial incidents such as 'crossfire' in defiance of the ban the High Court imposed on December 14, 2009 as the hearing in a number of HC rules issued regarding such killing is still not in sight.
Forty-four people have so far been killed in such incidents of extrajudicial killing since December 14, 2009, when the High Court asked the authorities not to kill any more people in 'crossfire' or 'encounter' until it hears the rule it issued suo moto on the government in this regard on November 17, 2009.
The bench of Justice AFM Abdur Rahman and Justice Md Emdadul Haque Azad issued the rule suo moto on the government asking it to explain why the killing of two brothers in Rapid Action Battalion custody in 'crossfire' on November 16, 2009 in Madaripur would not be declared illegal.
The same bench on December 14, 2009 asked the authorities not to kill any more people in the name of 'crossfire,' 'encounter' or 'gunfight' until it hears the rule over the extrajudicial killing. It also said the rule would come up for hearing on January 11 as the attorney general on December 14, 2009 sought time for the hearing.
The hearing in the rule became uncertain as the chief justice on January 7 reshuffled the High Court benches posting Justice AFM Abdur Rahman and Justice Md Emdadul Haque Azad who issued the rule to separate benches.
The attorney general, Mahbubey Alam, recently told New Age, 'The government has nothing to do with the hearing, which now depends on the chief justice.'
Asked whether the bench that issued the rule could hear the matter, the attorney general said, 'I do not know whether the chief justice will assign the same bench the hearing in the rule considering it a "part-heard" matter.'
'The reconstitution of the High Court benches has sent the matter into deep freeze,' said Ruhul Quddus Babu, counsel for the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust who has become party to the case as intervener.
'Now,' he said, 'the hearing in the rule depends on the will of the chief justice.'
He also said the rule should be heard immediately as the law enforcers, who had stopped extrajudicial killing after the December 14 High Court rule, again started killing people in the name of 'crossfire' or 'encounter.'
After the December 14 ban on 'crossfire,' no person had been killed by the law enforcers in such incidents till January 9.
The law enforcers first came up with such extrajudicial killing on January 9 two days after the hearing in the rule had became uncertain because of the reshuffle of the High Court benches.
The latest incident of 'encounter' death at Gulshan in Dhaka on July 1 took to 199 the total number of death in extrajudicial incidents called 'crossfire,' 'encounter' or 'gunfight' since the Awami League-led government assumed office on January 6, 2009.
The government, on the other hand, is yet to reply to the rules the High Court had issued much earlier asking it to explain why extrajudicial killings by law enforcers in the name of 'crossfire' or 'encounter' would not be declared illegal.
The bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui, on June 29, 2009 issued the rule after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by rights organisations Ain o Salish Kendra, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust and Karmajibi Nari challenging the legality of extrajudicial killing.
Ain o Salish Kendra counsel Saifur Rashid said, 'As the government is yet to reply to the rule, we are trying to get the rule heard as soon as possible.'
The High Court first came up with a ruling on extrajudicial killing on May 25, 2006.
In the ruling, the bench of Justice M Awlad Ali and Justice Zinat Ara asked the government to explain why the reported killing of Tunda Ismail, who was in fetters in police custody, should not be properly investigated and why the perpetrators should not be brought to justice.
Tunda Ismail, shown arrested in an arms case and remanded in police custody for interrogation, was killed in 'crossfire,' as claimed by the police, at Lalbagh on May 22, 2006.
The bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Mamnoon Rahman on August 6, 2006 issued a rule asking the government and the Rapid Action Battalion to explain why they should not be directed to ensure the security of the people detained in their custody.
The court issued the order after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by rights organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, which sought the court's directive on the government and the battalion to protect the life of any one detained from being killed in 'crossfire' or 'encounter.'
Although the government had already replied to the August 6, 2006 rule, the case is yet to be disposed of, the rights group's counsel Manzill Murshid said.
http://www.newagebd.com/2010/jul/04/front.html
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