9-yr-old killed by police vehicle
Nine-year-old Raj was playing with friends by the roadside in Dayaganj. Suddenly he was hit by a vehicle. Seriously injured, the boy was rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, but it was too late.
The locals stopped the vehicle that hit the boy, but, an on-duty cop helped the vehicle flee the scene as it belonged to police. Later, the police sub-inspector himself left the place with his patrol team. None of the policemen helped to take the injured boy to hospital.
The boy was hit on 10 February (Friday) afternoon by a white Toyota Land Cruiser.
Raj's family provided Jatrabari police with the number of the vehicle (Dhaka Metro-D-11-0358). But, Jatrabari police station did not file any cases regarding the accident.
Raj’s uncle Kamal said that they were afraid to file any case where the police were involved.
''They are influential. We won't lodge any case,'' he told Prothom Alo.
The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) confirmed to Prothom Alo that the vehicle was registered in the name of inspector general of police. It is now being used by additional superintendent of police Golam Azad Khan, transport division of police headquarters told Prothom Alo.
Md Salam, another uncle of Raj, said, ''The local people stopped the vehicle after the accident. But on-duty police SI Md Redwan Khan arrived at the scene, talked to someone inside the vehicle and helped him flee the scene.''
''The man in the vehicle was using a walkie-talkie. Later, Redwan also left the place with his patrol car,'' he added.
Quoting witnesses Salam said that Raj could have survived if he had been taken to hospital in time. The boy was first rushed to two local hospitals but none of them treated him as it involved an accident, he also said.
On the day of the accident, Prothom Alo contacted Jatrabari police station officer-in-charge (OC) Anisur Rahman but he did not want to comment on the incident. Meanwhile, assistant police commissioner (Demra zone) Iftekharul Islam claimed that the vehicle that killed the boy did not belong to the police.
SI Redwan Khan did not pick up his phone on Thursday.
ASP Golam Azad Khan told Prothom Alo over phone, ''You can be sure that I wasn't inside the vehicle that day.''
Asked who was in the vehicle, the ASP said he was busy in a meeting.
Former IGP Nur Mohammad told Prothom Alo that if the accident was done by a policeman, he could not avoid his moral responsibility.
*The article originally published in Prothom Alo print edition has been rewritten in English by Imam Hossain.