The custodial deaths following tortures by members of law enforcement agencies have been continuing despite the enactment of a new law.
In the latest incident, Yatim Ali Miyadhan, 37, a leader of Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal, youth unit of BNP, died in police custody in Feni early Friday. Yatim’s wife Hazera Khatun claimed that her husband was killed in police custody after torture during remands.
However, the Feni police said that Yatim died of ‘heart attack’. Feni Jail Super Didarul Alam said that the victim was suffering from chest pain for the last couple of days and was brought to Feni Sadar hospital in the morning on the day.
In the wake of increasing police torture and custodial death, the Parliament on October 25, 2013 passed the Torture and Custodial Death [prevention] Bill 2013 to curb such deaths.
But the police repeatedly continued to torture, kill and maim citizens in custody with impunity flouting the law and taking advantage of indifference of senior officials. In fact, most of the custodial deaths are not reported properly as victim’s family members do not file any case against law enforcement agencies out of fear of further harassment.
Recently, police killed a businessman Md Rokonuzzaman at Bakalia under Chittagong Metropolitan Police [CMP] in their custody on June 18. But CMP did nothing, except suspension of six policemen on July 9.
The victim’s wife Shimu Aktar lodged a case at Baklia Police Station the following day. The family members alleged that police raided Syed Shah Lane residence at Baklia on the night and assaulted the arrestee while trying to whisk him away.
Meanwhile, another case has been filed with a Dhaka court against Jahidur Rahman Khan, Sub-Inspector of Mirpur Model Police Station, the prime accused in the garment waste trader Sujan killing case, for torturing another man namely Jony to death in police custody.
Imtiaz Hossain Rocky, cousin of victim Jony, filed the case against Jahid and seven others with the Metropolitan Session’s Judge Court on Thursday.
Taking the complain into cognizance Judge Zahurul Haque ordered judicial investigation into it.
With the filing of the case, Jahid has been accused of killing three persons in custody under the jurisdictions of Dhaka Metropolitan Police [DMP]. A young man of Mirpur Bihari camp was his first victim in February when he was posted in Pallabi Police Station.
Ain O Salish Kendra [ASK] in a report said more than 2,000 people died in custody of law-enforcing agencies in the last 10 years since 2004.
Expressing anxiety over the increasing custodial death, the Asian Human Rights Commission [AHRC] said, “Torture is practiced as a routine in 629 police stations in Bangladesh. Even if it is assumed that only a single person per day is tortured in per station, about 229,585 persons are being tortured in Bangladesh every year. The victims who are tortured outside the police stations are not included here.
“Police is not the only state agency that routinely practices torture. The RAB, the armed forces, BGB, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence [DGFI] and special cells such as the Task Force for Interrogation [TFI Cell] and the Joint Interrogation Cell [JIC] also practice torture in custody,” AHRC also said.
Rights organization Odhikar has reported that at least 75 people were beaten to death in police custody between January 6, 2009 and June 2013.
Apart from it, 60 People died in Jail Custody in 2013 compared to 101 in 2012. Of them 32 convicted prisoners died. These include deaths due to alleged police torture and other complications. There were 28 incidents of death of prisoners under trial during the aforesaid period, according to ASK.
