We are concerned with the fact that a person arrested under the Special Powers Act in Jashore was kept under bar-fetters while he was undergoing treatment at a hospital. Why must a citizen be under bar-fetters in an independent country? Is he a notorious criminal?
According to a Prothom Alo report, Jashore Jubo Dal vice-president and a college teacher of sadar upazilla was taken to hospital after he had been suffering from heart disease in prison. His relatives accused that he was kept under bar-fetters while he was receiving treatment at the hospital. Those manacles were not unlocked even when he was taking his food. Many news media including Prothom Alo published that picture.
A teacher arrested in a political case cannot be treated like a notorious criminal. Mir Firoz Hasan, panel lawyer of Jashore’s human rights organisation, Rights Jashore, said that it is a violation of human rights to treat a patient in a hospital wearing bar-fetters. Apart from that the person has already undergone bypass surgery. In such a situation, it was not right to put him under bar-fetters.
According to the family of the victim and the prison sources, police filed four cases against Aminur Rahman under Special Powers Act after BNP’s grand rally at Dhaka on 28 October. He was arrested from Amdabad College on 2 November and sent to Jashore Central Jail.
Later, when he suffered heart disease in prison, he was first admitted to the coronary care unit of Jashore General Hospital. When his condition worsened, he was admitted to the National Heart Institute in Dhaka. He was under treatment there for 13 days. Even at this time, his cuffs were not unlocked.
According to the prison authority, following the jail code someone is kept under bar-fetters for security reasons. If a convict is ill, steps are taken according to the advice of a doctor. According to the advice of doctors, the prison authority gave Aminur Rahman treatment at the hospital. How can such a person be a threat for the security of prison authority and the government?
It is sad that the colonial practice of keeping someone under bar-fetters still persists. When Aminur’s issue came into the knowledge of the High Court through a lawyer, the bench consisted of justice Mostafa Zaman Islam and justice Atabullah said, “Normally the convicts who are involved in heinous crimes including involving in terrorism, are kept under bar-fetters. There are several rulings from the High Court as well regarding the matter. The High Court has guidelines about in which cases the convicts may be kept under bar-fetters.” In case of Aminul the directives of the court are completely ignored.
Earlier in this regime we saw the inhuman act of a convicted man bringing to the janaza of his mother under bar-fetters. Despite widespread criticisms about it, the authority does not seem to pay heed.
A case has been filed against Aminur Rahman in connection with the sabotage of the rally in Dhaka on 28 October. According to his family, he did not go to the rally in Dhaka. If this statement of the family is true, the whole case is false.
In such a case, the question arises as to how legal it is to arrest a college teacher from his educational institution. Can the state treat an undertrial and a heart patient this way?