AYSHA Siddika Minni has been forced to confess her involvement in the murder of her husband Rifat Sharif, her father alleged. He made the claim after meeting Minni at the Barguna jail gate a day after she was sent to jail after her confessional statement. Police claimed Minni, the number-one witness in the murder case, admitted her link with the attack on her husband, whom she had married just months ago. While police declined to disclose the contents of her statement, Mozammel claimed his daughter told everything under duress.
Along with his wife, two daughters and two brothers, Mozammel talked with Minni for about 10 minutes in presence of law enforcers. Police have so far arrested 15 suspects including Minni, who was made an accused during the course of the investigation. No lawyer represented her at the time, and her father claimed local lawyers did not take their case because of “influence and threat” by some influential politicians which is a violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article-33 of the Constitution and also contrary to the Appellate Division verdict in Bangladesh Vs BLAST case.
Mozammel claimed his daughter was so sick that she came to meet him at the jail gate yesterday with support of others. Asked if Minni was tortured during remand, he said that remand meant torture and that she cried when she was asked whether she was tortured. If Minni was indeed tortured she should have made a statement before the magistrate but she did not get such an opportunity. She still has time to do so as a legal team comprising several law practitioners is on the way to Barguna to represent her.
We have already stated our objections to the culture of remand. The police must obey the directives of the Supreme Court and refrain from interrogating anyone in remand. The culture of remand gives police the impunity to do whatever they think necessary to extract confessions as up to now not a single police officer has actually been convicted of torture. Instead of relying on torture the police must upgrade their investigation methods and get up-to-date equipment and databases to ensure proper investigations.
