POBNEWS 24, Dhaka Aug 22, 2022 : To avoid responsibility for the death of young Suman Sheikh in the custody of Dhaka’s Hatirjheel Police Station, the police itself is distributing CCTV footage to journalists. They want to continue calling it suicide. According to Deutsche Welle report.
But any type of custodial death and torture is a crime under the existing laws of the country. For this, the case must be taken first. Legal analysts said that not taking the case is also a crime.
Suman’s family members alleged that Suman was tortured and killed. Suman’s family alleges that the manager of the showroom in Rampura, where he worked as a van driver, killed Suman in order to avoid responsibility for the stolen Tk 53 lakh.
The theft case took place on August 15. Suman is not named in the statement of the case. After the case, Hatirjheel police arrested three persons including the cashier of the showroom. Police Station OC Abdur Rashid claimed that Suman was arrested on August 19 based on the information given by them. Three lakh rupees were also recovered from his house by raiding him at night. At around three o’clock in the morning, he took off his trousers and hanged himself in the police station. The police on Sunday gave the footage of the CCTV camera to the journalists to prove the suicide.
But Sumon’s brother-in-law Mosharraf Hossain said that the footage was shown to us after being summoned. But it does not prove that Suman committed suicide. Because the footage shows Suman climbing up the lockup gate. There is no footage of him committing suicide. According to him, Suman was not allowed to have any contact with us after his arrest. We were not allowed to enter the police station. After death, when we go to pick up the body from the hospital morgue, we are given a condition that we should take the body to the village house and bury it not in Dhaka. Now we have decided that we will not take the body without trial and trial. He was tortured and killed. He didn’t steal. It is a conspiracy. He was assassinated in a conspiracy.
He said, we went to the court on Sunday to file a case because the police station did not take our case. But did not get the help of any lawyer. Since today (Monday) morning we are sitting in the CMM court hoping to file a case. I don’t know what will happen.
However, on Monday Hatirjheel Police Station Inspector (Operation) Abdul Quddus said that the bodies were handed over to their families from the hospital mortuary in the afternoon.
What lawyers say
Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan said that not taking a case in this incident is also a crime. Cases must be taken under the Prevention of Torture and Death in Custody Act, 2013. If the police do not take this case, the SP will take it or the court will take it.
Azizur Rahman Dulu, another Supreme Court lawyer, said that when someone is in police custody, it is the responsibility of the police to provide all kinds of security. At least two policemen should be on guard for 24 hours if there is an accused in the police station. And the police station also has CCTV cameras. That is also monitoring. So how did Suman commit suicide? If he committed suicide, he committed suicide due to police negligence. The police must take responsibility for this.
However, Deputy Police Commissioner of Tejgaon Zone of DMP Azimul Haque said, we have registered a case of wrongful death. It will be investigated. Two policemen have been suspended for dereliction of duty. An inquiry committee has also been constituted which will report within seven days.
He said that the dead body was preserved in the presence of the magistrate. We have CCTV footage. It is clearly suicide. There is no sign of injury on his body. There was no incident of torture. And we got evidence that the young man was involved in theft.
Deaths in custody are on the rise:
Deaths in police custody rise despite crossfire in Bangladesh after US sanctions There have been two crossfire incidents in the first seven months of this year. But there were 11 deaths in custody. According to the Law and Arbitration Center (ASAC), there were 51 crossfire and 29 custodial deaths last year in 2021. Excluding crossfire, there were 24 custodial deaths in 2020, 32 in 2019, 54 in 2018 and 35 in 2017. But since the Prevention of Torture and Death in Custody Act in 2013, only 19 cases have been registered so far. In one case, the accused were convicted. In 14 cases, the final report was given that the case was defective.
