This Special Report, “Inexistent Rule of Law in Bangladesh” (article 2, vol. 13, no. 2, June 2014) is a publication by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) on criminal justics institutions in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has a history in terms of struggles for justice, the rule of law, and democracy. People’s aspirations have, however, been deceived by ruling elites since Bangladesh’s inception. People demand change. Parties replace each other in office. But, the condition of the rule of law worsens by the day. There is no correlation between political pledges and practice. A party, which has taken power by making the public pledge of ending extrajudicial executions and bringing perpetrators to book, is not only endorsing extrajudicial executions today, but also multiplying such crimes. The spate of enforced disappearances has put the entire nation in panic mode. Men in civilian clothes, claiming to be state agents, abduct citizens in broad daylight, from their homes or in public. Abductees disappear. Later, some of the bodies are found floating in rivers and canals.
Ten years ago, one political group created the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). Officially, the RAB was termed an ‘elite force’. Since its inception, this paramilitary force has been dominated by the armed forces, though it comprises of members of the military, the border guards, and the police. The government has claimed that this paramilitary force possesses the skill and efficiency in controlling crimes in the country. In fact, the RAB has been found skilled only in murdering the citizens in the pretext of ‘crossfire’,
‘gun-battle’, ‘exchange of fire’, and like terms that have been added to public vocabulary in Bangladesh. Impunity has been granted to RAB murderers. Gallantry awards are given to perpetrators in routine. This has contributed to changing the behavioural pattern of all law-enforcement agencies in Bangladesh. The police have wasted little time in trying to supersede the murderous performance of the RAB. Now, available statistics often show the police extrajudicially executing more citizens than the RAB.
In Bangladesh political polarization is maximum. Since independence, ruling parties have deliberately and consistently used law-enforcement agencies against political opposition. Arbitrary arrest and detention, followed by custodial torture, is the preferred practiced was for the powerful to attack rivals. Basic institutions, such as the complaint mechanism, criminal investigating mechanism, prosecutors and state attorneys, and the judiciary have been systematically used and abused to protect the interests of political elites in power. As a result, the protection from torture, the right to life, freedom of expression, and peaceful association are guarantees unrealized in Bangladesh. Victims of rapacious state machinery only increase. Torture and extrajudicial methods to deprive of life and liberty continue relentlessly, amidst transfers of political power. This has made political elites more arrogant and careless about the plight of the people. People’s frustration, and traumatized survival lacking dignity and freedom, has increased. Every institution is politically polarized to deny space and freedom to the people. There is no room for redress in Bangladesh today.
Importance of this Report
People’s rights cannot be conceived without the existence of the rule of law, in any given territory. This special report contains analytical writings that examine the existence of the rule of law in Bangladesh. It should inspire the audience to consider the basic institutions every society needs. The Bangladeshi people should use it as an unflinching reflecting on their reality.
The people should check to see how their policing system functions? Does the police maintain professionalism in their daily operations? Are they recruited, promoted, assigned, and rewarded on merit, efficiency, honesty, and transparency? Do the people trust their police to seek help when in danger? Or, are the people afraid of the police due to the chance of torture, fabrication of charges, extortion, and other forms of harassment?
The people should examine the complaint mechanisms. How much access do people have to such mechanisms? Do the complainants have to pay bribes to the police or bench officers in courts to file complaints? Do victims of ordinary crimes, or human rights abuse, get unhindered access to the complaint mechanism? Or, do the victims have approach powerful political or financial elites in their jurisdictions to intervene on their behalf just to register complaints? Are complaints recorded according to actual stories of the complainants? Or, do the police distort or force the complainants to alter their complaints?
How do the people, including complainants and witnesses, perceive the criminal investigation system of Bangladesh? Is the system credible? Do investigators extort bribes from parties while investigating cases? Do investigators use torture to extract confessions from crime suspects? Do investigators add or remove
the names of defendants or witnesses, arbitrarily, to weaken cases or gain undue benefit? Do investigators destroy material evidence and intervene in the process of forensic examination – the primitive one that Bangladesh maintains – to determine the fate of the case? Does the investigation process accommodate intervention of political and financial elites? These, and others relevant questions need to be asked so the people may assess how credible is their criminal investigation system.
How reliable and professional is the prosecutorial system and the state attorney services? Are the prosecutors and state attorneys qualified, and efficient enough, to assist the courts in upholding the rule of law? Are prosecutors and attorneys recruited on merit and professional integrity? Or, are they recruited due to political allegiance? Do prosecutors and state attorneys maintain professional independence when dealing with cases? Or, are they complicit to the process of prescribed prosecutorial actions to benefit powerful elites? Do prosecutors and attorneys become part of nepotism and corruption when dealing with cases in courts? Do litigants trust the prosecutors to uphold justice through the judicial process?
The role of the lawyers is critical in any criminal justice mechanism. It is important that the people take a step back to check whether lawyers maintain integrity when discharging legal support to their clients? Do lawyers facilitate corruption in defending cases? Do lawyers distort and hide actual evidence in courts? Do lawyers deliberately and habitually facilitate the process of delaying trials?
The role of the judges is undeniably vital when it comes to upholding the rule of law. How credible and transparent is the recruitment process of judges in all branches of the judiciary? Are judges recruited on the basis of merit, honesty, and commitment to judicial norms? Or, are the judges, of any branch, recruited for their political allegiance, loyalty, and relationship with those with high profile portfolios? Do judges maintain ethical norms when entertaining cases? Or, do the judges entertain cases on the basis of the identities of the litigants, or their lawyers? Do the judges adjudicate all cases with professional independence and judicial mindset? Or, do the judges adjudicate select cases in a selective pattern, compromising juridical norms and fundamental principles of fair trial? And, do judges uphold the universal human rights of the litigants when passing orders in courts?
As per universal human rights instruments, the Executive and the Legislature have an obligation when it comes to upholding the rule of law. In the Bangladesh context, it is important to consider the role of these two pillars of the state. Does the Executive branch maintain a culture of impunity? If so, then, it is a given: the rule of law will not exist in that jurisdiction. Impunity is incompatible with the rule of law; they cannot coexist. If the Legislature fails to act as a check on the Executive and passes laws that violate
the norms of human rights and justice, it contributes to the disappearance of the rule of law. The role of the Executive and the Legislature, in developing the infrastructure of criminal justice institutions, providing logistics and resources, and intervening in their functions, indicate the presence or absence of the rule of law.
Bangladeshis may want to find answers and explore the true state of the rule of law in their country. Human beings have to survive in sub-human conditions in absence of the rule of law. A functional rule of law system does not drop from the sky but from collective efforts of the people and their engagement in public debate and action. If citizens cry when sitting in holy places and curse successive rulers, bureaucrats, and professionals manning criminal justice institutions, such acts make no difference in bringing change to their lives. Bangladeshi sympathisers in the international community cannot do anything to assist common Bangladeshis in establishing a rule of law state if citizens do not act. It is the people of Bangladesh who will determine the fate of the rule of law in Bangladesh in the immediate and distant future.
Contents of this Report
This report contains 47 cases of torture, extrajudicial execution, enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention, fabrication of criminal charge, acid attack, sexual violence, non-investigation and refusal of justice from all parts of Bangladesh. These cases have been documented since 2009, when Bangladesh reportedly began its journey from a military-controlled emergency rule to an elected democracy. The cases substantiate the patterns of violation of people’s rights and the inability of criminal justice institutions to provide remedies to victims. They establish the real state of Bangladesh, a country unable to uphold the rule of law.
The remaining sections of the report complement the cases, and include two articles by academic scholars Mr. Maimul Ahsan Khan and Ms. Saira Rahman Khan, and a discussion with Md. Ashrafuzzaman on the realities of Bangladesh in light of the normative standards of the rule of law. The articles discuss the constitutional stature and legal stand of Bangladesh following the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution. They examine how the state apparatus behaves with citizens when undermining the rule of law and protecting vested interests at the cost of fundamental rights.
This special report is enriched by the invaluable opinions of a number of reputed professionals of Bangladesh. The ALRC has interviewed: Mr. Nurul Kabir, editor of New Age; Mr. Anu Muhammad, Professor of Economics, Jahangirnagar University; Mr. Akmal Hossain, Professor of International Relations, University of Dhaka; Mr. Shahiduzzaman, Professor of International Relations, University of Dhaka; Mr. Nur Khan and Mr. Shahed Kayes, human rights defenders; and Mr. Saiful Haque, General Secretary, Revolutionary Workers’ Party of Bangladesh.
Past documentation
Since 2002, the ALRC has observed the alarming deterioration in human rights conditions in Bangladesh. These observations have been reflected in its publications. In recent years, the ALRC has published several materials on Bangladesh, which includes article 2 publications. In 2006, the ALRC published its first special report in the article 2, “Lawless law-enforcement & the parody of judiciary in Bangladesh” (article 2, vol. 5, no. 4, August 2006).
The article 2 has covered special reports on institutions of Asian nations, including Bangladesh. In 2008, an edition “Focuses on prosecutions in Asia” (Vol. 7, No. 1, March 2008) was released that contains an article titled “The Disposable prosecutors of Bangladesh”. In the same year, the article 2 published another report, “Feature 2008: Five countries in review” (Vol. 7, No. 4, December 2008). Bangladesh found focus again in a chapter titled “Insidious militarization and illegal emergency” and an article on “Democratization and human rights in BANGLADESH: An appraisal of the military-controlled Fakhruddin interregnum”.
The article 2 also published a special edition titled “Use of police powers for profit” (Vol. 8, No. 1, March 2009), which contains article on “Disconnected policing and the justice trade in BANGLADESH: The case of Abdur Razzak”. Another edition (“Politics, human rights and the rule of law in South Asia” (Vol. 8, No. 3, September 2009) was released the same year, which includes an article titled “A law to protect only one Bangladeshi family”.
“Corruption and counter-corruption across Asia” (Vol. 9, No.1, March 2010) is another article 2 publication, which contains an article titled “Anti-corruption mechanisms in Bangladesh”.
Human rights defender Mr. F. M. A. Razzak was the subject of another edition of the article 2. This one, titled “Focus: Defending human rights defenders: Standing up for FMA Razzak” (Vol. 10, No. 2, June 2011) documented his attempted assassination.
In 2013, the ALRC, in collaboration with REDRESS, published a special report in article 2 on “Torture in ASIA: The law and practice” (Vol. 12, No. 3, October 2013). A chapter on Bangladesh was published in this edition. It focuses on: practice and patterns of torture, international law and the Bangladesh legal system; safeguards and complaint mechanisms on limits to and supervision of pre-trial detention, access to lawyers and compulsory medical check-up upon arrest, admissibility of evidence obtained under torture, accountability in complaint, investigation, and in granting amnesty and immunity, protection of victims and witnesses, and reparation.
The aforementioned are some of the article 2 publications that shed light on human rights realities in Bangladesh. The ALRC and its sister organization, the Asian Human Rights Commission,
have also released other publications related to Bangladesh. In the active engagement of the ALRC and the AHRC in Bangladesh, knowledge about the country has been, and is being acquired, and reflected in such publications.
Acknowledgements
This report has been prepared by the Bangladesh Desk, in collaboration with staff members, of the ALRC and the AHRC, Hong Kong. The authors and the ALRC wish to thank the persons who shared their stories that are published in this report. A number of human rights defenders, academics, and journalists contributed to the process of interviewing the professionals. The ALRC thanks all of them for their effort. They put in considerable effort and have refrained from disclosing their identities due to security risks involved. The ALRC also thanks the authors of the articles for their valued contributions.
Dedication
The Asian Legal Resource Centre dedicates this report to the victims of human rights abuses, the families of the victims, and the human rights defenders who face immense challenges in a painful
