Family members have alleged that a woman was beaten to death by members of the Detective Branch (DB) of police in Gazipur Tuesday night, hours after she was reportedly detained with yaba pills.
The deceased has been identified as Yasmin Begum, 40, wife of Abdul Hai.
Her body was handed over to the family around 2pm on Wednesday after an autopsy at the Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital.
At the time, relatives of Yasmin’s family were seen demonstrating outside the hospital, demanding justice.
Yasmin's son Jisan claimed: "On Tuesday evening, a few people in plainclothes, who identified themselves as DB police officers, came to our house looking to detain my father for consuming and selling narcotics.
"In my father's absence, they beat my mother and took her away. Later, around 11pm, the police informed us that she is sick and has been taken to the hospital.”
He said they rushed to the hospital, but only to find that she was already declared dead by the doctors. "I saw a number of bruises on her body," Jisan claimed.
Jisan also claimed that his father was a drug addict, but he never sold drugs. There were also no drugs cases against any of their family members.
Relatives and locals demonstrate outside Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital in Gazipur city on Wednesday, February 19, 2020, demanding justice for Yasmin Begum who was allegedly beaten to death in police custody the night before | Dhaka Tribune
He said they would file a murder case against the policemen responsible, after his mother's burial at their village home in Barisal.
Deputy Commissioner Monjur Rahman, in-charge of Gazipur DB, confirmed that detectives had detained Yasmin with 120 yaba pills on Tuesday evening. “She was in the lockup when she fell ill. She was taken to the hospital soon after.”
He claimed that all members of Yasmin’s family were drug addicts and involved in drug dealing. “They were also detained with drugs by RAB and police before.”
The hospital’s Resident Medical Officer Dr Rafiqul Islam said that Yasmin was brought in by DB policemen around 10pm Tuesday. “She was suffering from chest pain and respiratory issues.”
She was referred to the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in Dhaka, but Yasmin died around 11:15pm, he said. “Her symptoms led us to believe that she died after suffering a stroke.”
While Dr Rafiqul said there were no wounds on Yasmin’s body, a photo collected by this correspondent showed a number of cut marks on her thighs and legs that were sewn post-mortem.
Later in the evening on Wednesday, Gazipur Metropolitan Police (GMP) formed a three-member investigation committee to look into Yasmin’s death in DB’s custody.
GMP Commissioner Anwar Hossain confirmed that Additional Commissioner Azad Mia was leading the team, and they were given seven workdays to submit their findings.