The High Court bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Mohammad Ullah asked Kotwali model police station SI Nazmul and ASI Hadikur Rahman to appear before it on January 25 around 10:30am to explain their role.
The court also asked the victim, Abu Sayeed, to be present before it to narrate the incident and directed the Jessore police superintendent to investigate the incident and submit a report within 30 days.
In the rule, the court asked authorities concerned as to why appropriate legal action should not be taken against the people responsible for the incident.
The home secretary, IGP, DIG of Khulna range, Jessore SP and the OC of Kotwali model police station have been asked to come up with explanation within two weeks.
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The High Court's move came after a report was published in a Bangla daily on the matter January 6.
The report said that police in plainclothes picked up the victim from his residence in Talbaria village of Jessore last Wednesday. They demanded Tk2 lakh to set him free. After refusal to pay the amount, the police then tortured him at the police station.
The photo shows a youth, handcuffed, hanging upside down from a stick between two tables inside the police station.
Abu Sayeed was freed after his relatives managed to pay Tk50,000 after negotiations.
However, the victim and the accused police officers refuted the allegation as baseless.
“Police picked me up on Wednesday from a tea stall. They wanted to know whether I was involved in drugs business or not,” Sayeed told reporters on Friday. “They released me around 8pm the following day after finding no such evidence,” he said.
“They did not torture me,” Sayeed claimed.
Sayeed also said that the youth in the Facebook photo was wearing jeans, but that he was wearing a lungi at the time of his arrest. “Moreover, I do not have any T-shirt like the one in the photo.”
The family members also denied having paid the police Tk50,000 for his release.
SP Anisur Rahman formed a two-member probe body. He also requested local journalist leaders to take action against the reporters who first covered the matter.
A source in Kotwali police has confirmed to the Dhaka Tribune that the two police officers in question have already been withdrawn from their duties.