The Ain o Salish Kendra reports that 15 persons had passed away while being held by various law enforcement agencies in 2022, compared to eight in 2021, and 11 in 2020. Between 2014 and 2017, 260 people died in custody; in 2016, 78 people were killed. These fatalities are now nothing but numbers, but they still haunt each of the affected families.
Article 31 of the Constitution states: "No action shall be taken except by the law, which may cause loss of life, liberty, body, reputation or property of any person." The Torture and Death in Custody of Law Enforcement Agencies (Prevention) Bill 2013, passed by the Ninth Parliament, criminalizes torture in the government's custody and punishes those responsible for it.
Bangladeshi law says that “custodial death” is an illegal act, a crime even. However, it is not judged as so, and the 2013 act so far has seen but one trial under it. After the verdict in the case was announced in September 2022, some supporters of the ruling party claimed it was an example of the rule of law and proof of the government's sincerity. But there has been only one trial in the last nine years, and even that took six and a half years.
According to a BBC report, Imtiaz Hossain Rocky -- brother of the deceased Mohammad Joni, the plaintiff -- said the police had lured and threatened Tk20 lakh for disposing of their case. But the tragic aspect is that the court assigns the police to oversee these cases. The litigants would receive appropriate justice in these circumstances if further independent commissions were established and the investigations were carried out.
On August 24, 1995, a girl named Yasmin was raped and killed in Police custody in Dinajpur. In the Yasmin murder case, three cops were handed the death sentence in 2007 -- 27 years have passed since Yasmin, a teenager, was killed. We may have developed as a nation, but cases of abuse, sexual or otherwise, in police custody are still prevalent.
Recently, Sultana Jasmine, an office assistant, fell ill while in RAB custody in Naogaon. She later died while undergoing treatment at the hospital. On the morning of March 22, RAB arrested her and filed a case under the Digital Security Act, accusing her of financial fraud and unusual transactions at a bank. However, Naogaon Assistant Commissioner (Lands) told the media, “Sultana has worked under me for a year. I have not heard any corruption allegations against her.”
So where did RAB suddenly come up with these allegations from? And how did those allegations end up under the DSA? The media, however, claimed that Sultana's detention was not reported to the local police by the RAB. However, the doctor of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital said there were injury marks on the right side of Sultana's head during admission. The CT scan report revealed that there was bleeding inside the skull.
When the charges against the police first surfaced, the police conducted their own investigation. Police authorities have repeatedly urged the prime minister to remove the statute prohibiting death (prevention) and torture in detention. The charge sheet filed in the court based on RAB investigations on the murder of former army officer Major Sinha Rashed Khan said that the murder was planned at Teknaf police station.
Although the law was enacted in 2013 to prevent the custody of law and order in Bangladesh, it is not implemented well. Under this act, victims may seek to judge physical or even mental torture while in detention. This is an awareness issue, plain and simple due to a gross lack of any campaigns for this law. In a Star Weekend report from 2018, much evidence of torture while in remand were found which pointed to law enforcers regularly engaging in this malpractice.
Despite all the evidence, the High Court has summoned state lawyers and relevant stakeholders on this issue. After all, all law enforcement agencies are not above the constitution. Those who go to the police station with such complaints are not all criminals. And even if they are a criminal, they still have the right to expect decency.
As contradictory as this may sound, being in custody means having certain legal protections. When those protections are not ensured, we risk losing trust in the entire system.
Apurba Mogumder is a freelance contributor.
