The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday asked the authorities concerned to record the case of Bangladesh Bank official Golam Rabbi, if he wants to file any, in connection with a police assault incident.
The court came up with the order on receiving the primary investigation report from the police over the incident that took place on January 9. In the report, Rabbi was blamed for obstructing the police from discharging their duties during a search in Mohammadpur area.
Rabbi rejected the report saying that he had done nothing wrong.
He alleged that SI Masud had tortured him in the name of frisking near Mohammadpur Geneva Camp. Masud took away his wallet and some other documents and threatened to arrest him by showing him as a yaba trader unless he paid Tk5 lakh, Rabbi said. When he refused to pay the money, the SI allegedly threatened to put him in “crossfire” and dump his body in Mohammadpur Beribadh area.
SI Masud, who faces many other allegations of torture and extortion against him, was suspended on January 16 based on a police probe report.
Rabbi submitted a written complaint to the deputy commissioner of Tejgaon division on January 10. On the other hand, the High Court in response to a petition on January 18 asked the OC of the police station to record the complaint as an FIR.
But the Chamber Judge of the Supreme Court on January 21 stayed the order following a petition filed by the government, and placed the petition for a full bench hearing.
The four-member apex court bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha yesterday also quashed a writ petition filed in connection with the incident by two lawyers and a journalist. The court said that the Public-Interest Litigation (PIL) was not acceptable in this case as the victim himself had not filed it.
The court observed that as the victim is educated and eligible to file a case with police or court, he himself can do so.
If he files a case with Mohammadpur police station or the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court against the accused, the case has to be recorded, the court said.
During the hearing, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told the court that the lawsuit would dampen the morale of the police force, if allowed.
Opposing the PIL, he said: “Departmental proceedings is going on against the accused policemen. So filing of writ petition at this moment is ill motivated.”
Asked about the police report, Mahbubey at his office told reporters that the police had suspected Rabbi of carrying drugs.
“They wanted to search Rabbi’s body but he barred the police from doing that. There was an altercation and a police constable slapped him on his face. They took him on the police car. Later they called his relatives to take him away as they found nothing in Rabbi’s possession and became sure that Rabbi was a Bangladesh Bank official,” the chief law officer of the country said.
“The police took detail witness accounts. They also binned the allegation of asking money from Rabbi,” he added.
Rabbi yesterday said: “They grabbed me by my collar. They did not search me. It was a brutality. I am not sure whether I should file a case after what the police said in their report before the court.”
