Shopkeeper Noel was held responsible by a mobile court for defying the law. For this, his grocery store was sealed off and he jailed for three months. The mobile court was conducted upon allegations that he had kept chicken and fish along with soft drinks in his refrigerator in unhygenic condition.
Later it was also found that the licence of the store had not been renewed after June 2010 and that he had been using power connection designated for residential use. The mobile court also destroyed some products at the store which were termed sub-standard for not having BSTI labels.
After serving 19 days in jail, Nazmul Hossain Prakash Noel, 45, was released on bail recently. After taking treatment in Dhaka, Noel told local journalists the ordeals he had faced on August 12.
His shop, Jannat General Store, is situated just beside the first class officers’ dormitory in Datiara area of the town. The public servants staying there buy products especially cigarettes from the shop on credit and sometimes drink tea. Noel said in March he had asked Nejarat Deputy Collector Nazmul Ahsan to pay his dues for 10 cigarettes. It irked the official. He paid the money but also stopped buying things from the store.
Recently, the son of Ahsan was saved by some Ansar members while the boy was drowning in a pond near the shop. District Information Officer Tarique Mohammad came to the shop on August 11 and asked Nowel about the incident.
“The son of Sir [Ahsan] could not be saved if the Ansar members were not there,” Noel told him. But Tarique told the NDC that Noel had wished the boy’s death.
On August 12, the mobile court was conducted, and the punishments meted out in presence of NDC Ahsan. Ansar member Shahidul Hossain beat Noel in front of his shop. “While they were taking me on a vehicle, NDC Ahsan told Shahidul: ‘I could not take my revenge properly. Take him to the office and give him a good lesson. I am unable to beat him.’”
Noel said he was taken to a room on the ground floor of the deputy commissioner’s office and beaten mercilessly. The information officer was present at that time. “Shahidul had a blade and a needle. While inserting the needle under a finger nail of my left hand, Shahidul said: ‘Confess that you wished the death of Sir’s son.’”
He had to admit since Shahidul punched the needle in all his five nails of left hand. After torture, the information officer told Noel: “You have escaped this time for being in this office. I would have beaten you up naked had it been Dhaka’s Mirpur.”
Family members were looking for Noel since he had been picked up by the mobile court. Finding him at the DC office, they informed relatives including a secretary and a divisional commissioner. Noel’s brother Mosharraf Hossain Titu and sister-in-law Nargis Begum met the DC several times at the latter’s office.
When contacted, DC Muhammad Mosharraf Hossain said he did not hear about torture. “There is no scope of such torture by a mobile court. I have heard about the torture from you [journalists],” he added.
Shahidul admitted that he had beaten up Noel under the directives of NDC Ahsan but denied torturing Noel with a needle.
Upazila Sanitary Inspector Safiur Rahman, who had prepared the document of the mobile court’s punishment, later denied doing so. “One Pranab of the court took me to Datiara. The NDC Sir was present there beforehand. The mobile court was conducted only in that shop in Datiara.”
When contacted over the phone, NDC Ahsan questioned raising the allegations after a month. “On that day, he [Noel] was arrested in front of a lot people and later kept in court custody. There is no scope of torturing him somewhere.”
He, however, said: “An Ansar member hit the shopkeeper once with a stick since he did not want to get on the vehicle.”
