Court Correspondent :
The Fifth Additional District and Sessions Judge’s Court of Dhaka on Thursday fixed July 27 to deliver its judgment on an appeal filed by Helal Uddin, former Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Khilgaon Police Station, who was earlier convicted for torturing a student of Dhaka University in police custody.
Judge Md Jahidul Kabir of the court passed the order after hearing the arguments of both sides in the case. Advocate Manzur Alam, moved on behalf of Abdul Kader, an ex-student of the Dhaka University. On May 17, last year, a Dhaka court awarded Helal three years’ imprisonment for torturing Kader. The court also fined him Tk 10,000, in default, he will suffer three more months in the prison. Besides, the court issued warrant for his arrest and he was tried in his absence. On May 31, last year, he surrendered to the court and sought bail. But he was sent to the jail.
According to the case statement, a team of plainclothes police of Khilgaon Police Station hit Kader with sticks at Segunbagicha in the early hours of July 16, 2011 while he was returning to Fazlul Huq Hall, from a relative’s house at Eskaton. When he asked about the reason for which he was tortured and introduced himself as a DU student, they turned furious and took him to the police station. Later, the then OC Helal Uddin took him in his room and forced him to admit his involvement in several crimes which he never committed.
Helal caused injuries in Kader’s back, legs and other parts of body. At one stage, the former OC hit him with a sharp machete causing wounds in his left leg. Not only that, the police filed two cases against him with the police station — one for robbery and another for possessing an illegal firearm. He was shown arrested in another false case filed with Mohammadpur Police Station for carjacking.
Teachers and students of DU and people from different walks of life reacted sharply to the police torture on Kader, a master’s degree class student of Biochemistry. Kader was freed on bail on August 3, 2011 after 18 days of detention. Later, a court acquitted him from the charges.
On January 23, 2012, Kader filed a case with Khilgaon Police Station against its former OC Helal Uddin for torturing him. On March 26 the same year, police submitted the charge sheet of the case to the court against former OC Helal.
