The High Court has ordered the Jessore civil surgeon to submit a medical report on Imran Hossain, a college student who was allegedly tortured by police in the district.
The bench of Justice JBM Hassan issued the order after a virtual hearing of a writ petition filed in this regard on Tuesday.
Barrister Humayun Kabir Pallab and Mohammad Kawsar represented the writ petitioner, while Deputy Attorney General Samarendra Nath Biswas represented the state.
The court also asked the Jessore superintendent of police (SP) to submit an investigation report regarding the incident by June 28 only if there was any committee formed by the district police.
Following the order, both reports will have to be submitted by the state lawyer.
On June 18, Supreme Court lawyers Barrister Humayun Kabir Pallab and Advocate Mohammad Kawsar filed a writ petition with the High Court’s virtual bench seeking its order for a judicial probe into the incident of torture, treatment and payment of expenses and directives for appropriate compensation.
Earlier on June 8, Dhaka Tribune published a report regarding a college student suffering from kidney damage after reportedly being tortured by police in Jessore.
The victim, Imran Hossain, 22, an inhabitant of Shahbajpur village of Sadar upazila of the district, is a second-year student of Kazi Nazrul Islam Degree College.
“I was returning home from the Saluabazar area with one of my acquaintances from the locality on the evening of June 3. When we reached Jessore University of Science and Technology, policemen from Sajiali police outpost challenged us and started to search the bag of the other youth,” said Imran to Dhaka Tribune while describing the incident.
“I was scared and began to run in panic. They, however, caught me eventually and after a heavy beating, I lost my consciousness. I found myself at a local pharmacy detained by the policemen while they inserted packs of marijuana into my pockets,” alleged the victim.
“They called my father asking for Tk25,000 as bail money and released me after taking Tk6,000 from us with a threat that if we informed others about the torture, they would take me on remand,” added Imran.
Meanwhile, the Superintendent of Police of the district, Md Ashraf Hossain, commented: “We are investigating the matter with priority and if any policeman is found to be involved in the incident we will surely take legal action against them.”
Nikar Ali, the father of the victim, said: “Three days after the incident, we found Imran with severe abdominal pain and when we admitted him to Jessore Medical College Hospital, we were informed by the doctors that both of his kidneys had been severely damaged.
“The policemen tortured my son and now he is fighting for his life. We want proper punishment for the policemen so that nobody else suffers like Imran,” the father added.