The student movement against quotas for government jobs has seen a lot of death and destruction follow over the past weeks, but the image that is sure to endure in, and subsequently haunt, the collective memory of every Bangladeshi is that of young Abu Sayeed -- standing defiantly with open arms and posing no identifiable threat, moments before he was gunned down point-blank by a law enforcer.
With footage available providing testimony of his death at the hands of police heavy-handedness, it is then simply shocking to know that the First Information Report filed by the police completely contradict reality, stating: "The protesters fired weapons and threw chunks of bricks from different directions, and at one stage, a student was seen falling to the ground."
The footage of Abu Sayeed’s killing has been widely available and verified by international bodies such as Amnesty International using satellite imaging, but that is besides the point given the fact that video evidence is available.
What exactly is the rationale behind this attempted erasure of the truth?
It is incontrovertible that our law enforcement’s heavy-handed behaviour during the student protests has dealt an irreparable damage to public trust, which has always been at the point of breaking due to a history of questionable behaviour at both the individual and institutional levels. Instead of attempting to bury the truth, our police department should be pledging to investigate the officers who were present during Abu Sayeed’s death and taking action against them to the fullest extent of the law.
With due process already being disregarded with the current wave of arrests, now more than ever our police need to re-establish itself as a force of good for the people.
With footage available providing testimony of his death at the hands of police heavy-handedness, it is then simply shocking to know that the First Information Report filed by the police completely contradict reality, stating: "The protesters fired weapons and threw chunks of bricks from different directions, and at one stage, a student was seen falling to the ground."
The footage of Abu Sayeed’s killing has been widely available and verified by international bodies such as Amnesty International using satellite imaging, but that is besides the point given the fact that video evidence is available.
What exactly is the rationale behind this attempted erasure of the truth?
It is incontrovertible that our law enforcement’s heavy-handed behaviour during the student protests has dealt an irreparable damage to public trust, which has always been at the point of breaking due to a history of questionable behaviour at both the individual and institutional levels. Instead of attempting to bury the truth, our police department should be pledging to investigate the officers who were present during Abu Sayeed’s death and taking action against them to the fullest extent of the law.
With due process already being disregarded with the current wave of arrests, now more than ever our police need to re-establish itself as a force of good for the people.
