Staff Reporter :
A judicial probe committee on Tuesday submitted a report to the High Court saying that the police of Narayanganj Sadar Police Station have tortured and forced three people to give confessional statements to magistrates on raping and killing a minor who turned out to be alive 51 days after she went missing from Bandar upazila of Narayanganj district.
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Narayanganj Farhana Ferdousi submitted the probe report to the HC through its Registrar office while hearing a revision petition filed in connection with the issue in line with its September 24, 2020 directive.
CJM Farhana Ferdousi in the report cited the statements of the three accused.
Abdullah, Khalil and Rakib said that the then officer-in-charge of Narayanganj Sadar Police Station Mostafizur Rahman and its sub-inspectors Shamim Al Mamun and Abdul Hye tortured and forced them in different ways to give confessional statements to the magistrates about raping and killing the minor girl.
In the conclusion of the probe report, Ferdousi also said SI Shamim Al Mamun tortured the accused after arresting them in connection with the incident.
The judicial committee also said that the two judicial magistrates, Md Aftabuzzamam and Md Humayun Kabir, properly recorded the confessional statements as they made the statements spontaneously.
Petitioners’ lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir, who read out the judicial probe report before the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman, said the contents of the probe report are contradictory.
The facts behind the incident would have remained hidden if the victim was not found alive, he said. Shishir Manir prayed to the HC to issue some directives about interrogating of the accused and recording their confessional statements.The HC bench said that the accused persons might have been sentenced to death following their “confessional statements” if the victim was not found alive.
The bench asked Attorney General AM Amin Uddin to place arguments on this issue and fixed January 13 for further hearing and passing order on the matter.
Published reports quoting the police officials said that the underage girl had been missing since July 4 last year. Later on August 6, her father filed an abduction case with Narayanganj Sadar Police Station as they failed to find out her.
Following the call list of the missing girl’s mother cell phone, police later arrested three persons, Md Abdullah, 22, Md Rakib, 19, and Khalilur Rahman, 36.
On August 9, the accused testified under Section 164 in separate courts in Narayanganj when they said that they had killed the minor after raping her and dumped her body in the Sitalakhya River.
Meanwhile, the minor girl was rescued alive on August 24 last year, 51 days after she went missing from Bandar upazila. Following a mobile call police rescued her and handed over her family.
After return, the girl said that she willingly married a person named Iqbal and was living with him in Bandar area of the city.
In this circumstance, five Supreme Court lawyers, Md Asad Uddin, Md Jobayedur Rahman, Md Ashraful Islam, Md Al Reza Amir and Md Misbah Uddin filed an application with the High Court on August 25 seeking its interference over the incident of the teenage girl.
The application had questioned the accuracy, legitimacy and rationality of the abduction case that was filed by her father with the Narayanganj Model Police Station after the disappearance of the girl. It also questioned the legality of the confessional statements of the three accused arrested in the case after the case has been filed.
Upon hearing the petition the High Court on September 24 last year ordered the chief judicial magistrate of Narayanganj to conduct a judicial inquiry into the incident and to submit a report in the High Court.
