A judicial inquiry body has submitted its findings before the High Court (HC) on the return of an allegedly murdered schoolgirl in Narayanganj.
The schoolgirl who was presumed abducted, raped and murdered (according to the confessional statements of the accused) turned out to be alive 51 days after the abduction case was filed with Narayanganj Sadar police station.
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Narayanganj Farhana Ferdousi submitted the probe report.
The High Court fixed January 13 for the next hearing on the matter. It also asked Attorney General AM Amin Uddin to place arguments on the issue.
According to the probe report, police intimidated and tortured the three accused over the incident and forced them to make confessional statements. While assuring the accused of bail, police also told them what to and not to say in court, the report added.
The judicial body examined the case dockets, statements given by the witnesses, the alleged victim as well as confessional statements during the inquiry.
However, the probe body did not find any irregularities in the process of granting remand of the accused or their confessional statements being recorded at the magistrate’s court.
It was Narayanganj Sadar Model police station Sub-Inspector (SI) Shamim Al-Mamun who tortured the accused and forced them to confess to crimes they had not committed, the report stated.
Supreme Court lawyer Muhammad Shishir Monir told Dhaka Tribune that the 25-page probe report had been placed before the High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman.
Earlier on September 24, 2020, the High Court had ordered a judicial probe into the much talked about incident.
Prior to that, on 17 September, both the present and former investigating officers (IO) appeared in court with their explanations. The court then set 24 September as the date for the order.
The incident
Following a case filed at Narayanganj Sadar Model police station over the abduction of a teenage girl, police arrested three suspects and sent them to jail.
The trio made confessional statements to the effect that they had thrown the girl's body in the Shitalakhya River after raping and murdering her.
The families of the accused alleged that the arrestees had been tortured so much by the police officials of Narayanganj Sadar Model police station that they were forced to confess to crimes that they had not committed.
They also claimed that they were forced to cough up at least Tk47,000 as bribes to Narayanganj Sadar Model police station SI Shamim, the former IO of the abduction case, to ensure the well-being of the suspects.
On August 23, however, the girl’s safe return home immediately invalidated the confessional statements and raised questions about how the false confessions of the rape and murder had been obtained.
Advocate Shishir filed revision case with the High Court on behalf of five other Supreme Court lawyers -- Md Asad Uddin, Md Zobaidur Rahman, Md Ashraful Islam, Md Al Reza Amir and Md Misbah Uddin.
The magistrate, the superintendent of police, the officer in charge of Narayanganj Sadar Model police station, the investigation officer of the case, the plaintiff Jahangir Hossain (father of the girl) and the three accused -- Abdullah, Rakib and Khalil -- were all made respondents to the revision.
The story behind the story
According to media reports, on August 23, Iqbal Pandit, a man in a relationship with the girl, called her family and informed them that she was alive and was with him. Iqbal also asked for some money from the girl’s parents to pay his rent. He, along with the schoolgirl, was detained shortly after by the police.
After being questioned by the police, the girl said she had taken off with her then boyfriend Iqbal to marry him and had remained absconding since then. Shortly after her statement was recorded, Iqbal was sent to jail.
The prime suspect in the abduction case, Abdullah, with whom she was last seen on July 4, had, however, no knowledge of her intentions on the day, proving him innocent along with the two other suspects.
Following the arrest of Abdullah, Rakib and Khalil in connection with her disappearance, Narayanganj Sadar Model police station SI Shamim Al Mamun, the former IO of the abduction case, said the girl had been murdered and her body dumped into the Shitalakshya River.
"We located Rakib (autorickshaw driver) after finding his number from the call list on the girl's mother’s phone. Abdullah used to contact the girl through Rakib's phone," he said.
At the time, SI Shamim said: “On the afternoon of July 4, the schoolgirl and Abdullah went on a tour in Rakib's auto-rickshaw of different parts of Bandar upazila. In the evening they hired a boat from ghat number five of the dock and the girl was raped on the vessel by Abdullah and the boatman Khalilur.”
“When the girl threatened the men that she would make a complaint regarding her rape, Abdullah and Khalilur strangled her to death and dumped her body in the Shitalakshya River at around 9pm,” added the SI.
