National Human Rights Commission Chairman Prof Mizanur Rahman yesterday said that the police had become reckless nowadays, and suggested that they need to be reined in immediately.
“I am compelled to say that if such activities by the police are not stopped, these will bring a worse consequence for the force,” Prof Mizan told reporters at Dhaka Medical College Hospital where a tea stall owner succumbed to his injuries yesterday afternoon allegedly following police torture.
“Police’s excesses have reached the peak. The reckless police need to be reined in without delay. We do not need such oppressive police,” he added.
Tea seller Babul Matabbor, who was admitted to the hospital with 90% burns, died around 1:35pm. He was tortured and set on fire allegedly by some police members at his tea stall in the capital’s Mirpur on Wednesday night as he refused to pay toll.
After his death, the authorities withdrew five members of Shah Ali police station including three sub-inspectors and formed two probe bodies to investigate the allegations of extortion and torture.
“The accused police members should be brought to the book ... We want to see that their names are included in the case filed over the matter. Otherwise, we will go to the High Court for remedy and will file a case ourselves, if needed,” warned the NHRC boss.
Babul’s family members alleged that they were forced by the Shah Ali police to file the case against some local drug paddlers instead of the police officers responsible. They also claimed that the on-duty police members first took the injured to the police station.
“This is not acceptable. It is their duty to arrange treatment for the victim first,” Prof Mizan said.
The brutality on Babul drew severe criticisms as some other police officers have recently been accused of torturing a Bangladesh Bank official and a DCC employee among others in the name of frisking.
“Crimes [by police] become viral when justice is not ensured in a society. If the police claim that they were not involved in such crimes, it is their duty to prove themselves innocent,” Prof Mizan said. He also questioned the claim made frequently by the police high-ups that they are friends of the people.
Earlier in the day, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal emerging from a programme claimed that no police members were involved in the incident. Had they been involved, their names would have been included in the case filed by the victim’s family, he said.
“There will be an investigation. It is a sheer lie that the victim was burned in a flame by the police. Rather, a police informant was involved in the incident. The incident occurred due to a feud over drug selling.”
The minister also claimed that it was a stray incident, and that it would not harm the image of the police force.
