Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from a reliable source regarding an alleged brutal torture of a man by the Kotwali police in Bogra district on 25-26 January 2007. The victim is currently detained in the Bogra district jail after being forced to falsely confess to a crime due to the severe torture. We were informed that no other action has been taken against the alleged perpetrators except for them being relocated to another police barrack.
CASE DETAILS:
Mr. Sree Ratan Shaha is a labour of plastic industry living in Namajgar village, Dalpatti, Bogra police station, Bogra district, Bangladesh.
On 24 January 2007, Ms. Ananto Debi, the wife of Mr. Sree Ram Narayan living in the same village, lodged a complaint with the Kotwali police station regarding the alleged theft of gold ornament. The theft had taken place on the 3rd floor of her husband’s rental house at 9:30am on the same day. The relevant case report (CR) number is 36 of 07 filed under section of 454 and 380 of the Bangladesh Penal Code (BPC). In her complaint, she alleged three men namely Hisra Mau, Zosna, Mukta and others as being responsible.
During the night of January 25, the Kotwali police led by Sub Inspector (SI) Abdul Karim came to Ratan’s house and arrested him on suspicion of him being involved in the said theft case. However, the police did not show him any arrest warrant or valid document for his arrest. The police also searched Ratan’s room but could not find any stolen gold ornament.
According to Ratan, he was then taken to the police fari in Upashahar area, where SI Karim brutally tortured him. After tying him with rope, the SI slapped Ratan, kicked him with his police boots and brutally beat him with a baton. The Sub Inspector also threatened him to confess to the theft of gold if he did not want to be tortured anymore.
At around 11:30am on the following day (January 26), Ratan was taken by the police into an officer’s room at the Kotwali police station. There he was again brutally tortured by the police officers viz. sub inspectors Abdul Karim, Monjur Rahman and Shariful Islam and police constable Nurul Islam. The police officers hanged the victim from the ceiling fan and severely tortured him. They also threatened to kill Ratan, who finally gave a false confession of crime due to fear for his life.
The victim is currently warded in the jail hospital of the Bogra district Jail due to the injuries sustained from torture. The local activists, who visited him in the jail, reported that they witnessed the torture marks on his body.
According to the victim’s mother, Ratan has no criminal record and has not involved in any crime in his life.
Sub Inspector Ahsan Habib of the Kotwali police station claimed that the police found two-tola gold necklace according to Ratan’s confession. However, he also said that there is no specific allegation against Ratan.
Meanwhile, the brutal torture of the victim at the police station was reported in the Daily Star. Due to the pressure from the local people, the police conducted investigation. However, according to the information we have received, 4 police officers and Mr. Shamsul Haque, the officer-in-charge (OC) of the Kotwali police station were simply “closed (withdrawn)” from the places where they were working and transferred to another police stations. The OC has been relocated to the DIG range office of Rajshahi, while the 4 officers were relocated to the Bogra Police Lines.
In Bangladesh, so-called action against the alleged perpetrators (police officers) by withdrawing them from the area is done whenever any of the police personnel commit crimes in public. The local police administration then “closes” that particular person or a group of persons. This means that they withdraw the accused from one place and relocate them to another district police barrack. They do this with the intention of diverting the public attention from the original incident. See also UA-388-2006.
To date no other disciplinary or legal action has been taken against the alleged perpetrators in this case.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please immediately write to the relevant Bangladesh authorities listed below and demand an impartial and thorough investigation into this case. Please urge them to arrest and prosecute the alleged perpetrators according to the Bangladesh Penal Code. Please also urge them to take measures to withdraw false charges against the victim and ensure his release.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear _________,
BANGLADESH: Brutal police torture of a man in Bogra district
Name of victim: Mr. Sree Ratan Shaha, son of Mr. Sree Shib Sanker Shaha, labour of plastic industry
Address of victim: Namajgar village, Dalpatti, Bogra police station, Bogra district, Bangladesh
Alleged perpetrators:
1. Mr. Monjur Rahman, Sub-Inspector of the Kotwali police station
2. Mr. Shariful Islam, Sub-Inspector of the Kotwali police station
3. Mr. Abdul Karim, Sub-Inspector of the Kotwali police station
4. Mr. Nurul Islam, Constable of the Kotwali police station
5. Mr. Shamsul Haque, Officer in Charge of the Kotwali police station in Bogra district (for negligence of his command duty)
Date & time of torture: At around 11:00pm on 25 January 2007; at about 11:30am on 26 January 2007
Place of torture: Upashahar Police Fari ; Kotwali police station in Bogra district
I am deeply concern about the alleged brutal torture of a man by the Kotwali police in Bogra district on 25-26 January 2007.
According to the information I have received, the Kotwali police led by Sub Inspector (SI) Abdul Karim came to Ratan’s house and arrested the victim on the suspicion of being involved in one theft case at night of 25 January 2006. However, the police did not show him any arrest warrant or valid document for his arrest. The police also searched Ratan’s room but could not find any stolen gold ornament.
I am informed that the victim was then taken to the police fari in Upashahar area, where SI Karim and other police officers brutally tortured him. He was tied with rope and kicked with police boots and beat him with a baton. The victim was also threatened to confess to the theft of gold if he did not want to be tortured anymore. However, the victim insisted his innocence and refused to give a false confession.
I am appalled to learn that the victim was brutally tortured again on the following day by the police who wanted to extract his confession. At around 11:30am on January 26, Ratan was allegedly taken by a room in the Kotwali police station, where he was hanged from the ceiling fan and severely beaten. The victim could not bear the brutal torture and finally gave a false confession. The victim is currently warded in the jail hospital of the Bogra district Jail due to his injuries sustained from torture. According to his family, he has no criminal record.
I am further concerned that no serious action has been taken against the alleged perpetrators. I am informed that 4 police officers and Mr. Shamsul Haque, the officer-in-charge (OC) of the Sadar police station were simply “closed (withdrawn)” from the places where they were working and transferred to another police stations. The OC has been relocated to the DIG range office of Rajshahi, while the 4 officers were relocated to the Bogra Police Lines.
I am well aware that in Bangladesh, so-called action against the alleged perpetrators (police officers) by withdrawing them from the area is done whenever any of the police personnel commit crimes in public. This means that they “close (withdraw)” the accused from one place and relocate them to another district police barrack. This method has been applied to divert the public attention from the original incident. This practice encouraging the impunity among police forces should be stopped immediately.
In light of the above, I strongly urge you to order a prompt, fair and thorough investigation into this case. Those responsible must be arrested and prosecuted under the Bangladesh Penal Code (BPC). I also request you to take measures to withdraw false charges against the victim and ensure his immediate release. I also urge you to ensure that the family members are adequately compensated as well. To prevent such crimes by the state officers, the Bangladesh government must ratify the Convention against Torture (CAT) without further delay and strictly enforce it into domestic level.
I look forward to your urgent intervention in this matter.
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Prof. Iajuddin Ahmed
President
People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Bangabhaban, Dhaka
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 9568041, 7161501/A, 8311202/ 7161503/A
Fax: +880 2 9566242 or 9566593
2. Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed
Chief Adviser
Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Office of the Chief Advisor
Tejgaon, Dhaka
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 8828160-79, 9888677
Fax: +880 2 8113244 or 3243 or 1015 or 1490
E-mail: pm@pmobd.org or psecretary@pmobd.org (to the Secretary)
3. Mr. Sayed J. R. Modassir Hossain
Chief Justice
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh
Supreme Court Building
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 9562792
Fax: +880 2 9565058
4. Mr. Fida M Kamal
Attorney General of Bangladesh
Office of the Attorney General
Supreme Court Building
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 9562868
Fax: +880 2 9561568
5. Mr. Nur Mohammad
Inspector General of Police (IGP)
Bangladesh Police
Police Headquarters’
Fulbaria, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 9562054 or 7176451 or 7176677
Fax: +880 2 9563362 or 9563363
6. Professor Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
Attn: Mr. Safir Syed
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 9179016 ((ATTENTION: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR TORTURE)
7. Ms. Leila Zerrougui
Working Group on arbitrary detention
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTENTION: WORKING GROUP ARBITRARY DETENTION)
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)
