The Supreme Court order must be followed

Rubel was arrested under section 54 in 1998 tortured. This student died in police custody and a writ was filed over the incident. Following the writ, the Appellate Division issued a directive. Bangladesh for the first time joined a session of the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) and claimed that the Appellate Division’s directive was being followed.

However, in actuality, the guideline is not being followed. As the government does not want to comply with it, the directive has been stayed through a review. We have repeatedly said that the home ministry should issue a circular so that the police across the country follow the directive. The Abu Sayeed incident is the result of the non-compliance with the directive.

Abu Sayeed, a young man of Hazaribagh, was not killed. The government rejects allegations of enforced disappearance, saying many people go into hiding and Sayeed did the same. But it is the responsibility of the police was to prove the government’s claim that it was neither murder nor enforced disappearance. But quite the opposite happened.

The persons who had been falsely accused and sent to jail, later filed a case when it was found that missing person had not been murdered at all. Following the case, police arrested Sayeed along with his parents and a relative and sent to jail. But no action was taken against the police officer who had issued the charge sheet with false information.

The trial of this case continued and the date of verdict was fixed twice. Unfortunately the accused police was free. He allegedly forced the accused to confess at gunpoint. The lawyers said this was a despicable drama like that involving ‘Joj Mia’.

Sayeed may have run away out of anger and his parents filed an abduction case with the police. Such incidents are not unusual. The main thing to be taken into consideration was whether Sayeed’s parent made the complaint just to harass the accused. It is evident that they did not do that. They did not name anyone. So the investigation officer has to officially take the responsibility.

If he Supreme Court directives regarding arrest and remand had been effective and the home ministry had showed sensitivity, there would have been no necessity to make up the murder story.

An investigation of this incident should be carried out by responsible persons outside of the police force. The conduct of Hazaribagh police and DB must also be investigated. Sonia suffered 6 months’ imprisonment, Saiful 24 months and Afzal 33 months, on charges of murdering Sayeed. The state must compensate them.

The court has ordered investigations to ascertain whether the last two ‘accused’ were minors or not. But the report is yet to be submitted.

When the matter was taken to the High Court, the High Court wanted to know what steps the lower court has taken in this regard. The tribunal has issued an order to investigate whether this Sayeed is the same Sayeed or not. How long will the home ministry delay?