EDITORIAL
THE police distressingly keep subjecting citizens to violence in the name of keeping law and order. In a recent case, a union council member in Jashore lost one of the legs after being tortured in police custody. The arrest and torture, as victims of police brutality say, are closely linked to arrests taking place after the government began the drive against drug substances. A local young man, reportedly backed by men with the Detective Branch, sold drugs and gave the police the names of buyers only to be held later by the law enforcers to ransom to secure their release.
On November 8, the informer along with plainclothes men went to their village carrying drugs and sharp weapons when local people manhandled them. The same night, about 45 villagers were arrested and tortured. The union council member, Faruk Hossain, was taken to an unknown location where he was shot in the leg from close range. The police brushed aside allegations of torture and filed a case against the victim on charge obstructing justice. The case has an eerie similarity with the way Rapid Action Battalion shot at college student Limon Hossain in Jhenaidah in 2011. The fate of Faruk and Limon makes it evident that the law enforcement agencies meant to protect the lives have become a major cause of public sufferings.
A review of the cases of Faruk, Limon and others tortured in custody shows how the law enforcement agencies abuse their power and engage in illegal activities. Firstly, many rights organisations have alleged that the police have been running an arrest business since the middle of May when the drive against drug substances began. The events preceding the torture of union council member hint at it.
Secondly, the long-standing practice that the police personnel in plain clothes raid places and arrest people has made citizens vulnerable to arbitrary arrest. It has been widely reported how the law enforcement agencies have ignored the guideline that ensures that police power to arrest without warrants is consistent with constitutional safeguards on arrest and prohibition on torture. Thirdly, allegations of torture in custody are generally not judiciously investigated and the law enforcers involved in torture are rarely brought to justice under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act 2013. Successive governments have blatantly used the police to persecute their political opponents and tolerated the criminal misconduct of the police to the extent that even a ruling party-affiliated union council member has not been spared from their brutality. Therefore, rights organisations are not wrong in their claim when they say that the law enforcement agencies are becoming the mercenary of influential quarters.
According to Ain O Salish Kendra, 53 people lost their lives in custody in 2017. Twenty of them were convicts and 33 were detained. Under the circumstances, the government must realise that by tolerating custodial torture and death of ‘suspects’ without trial, it is allowing miscarriage of justice as evidenced in the brutal treatment of Hossain in Jashore.
- Courtesy: New Age/ Nov 29, 2018
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