Extrajudicial Killings: HC yet to dispose of three rules
The High Court has yet to dispose of three rules issued at different times in the last 10 years questioning the legality of extrajudicial killings in law enforcers' custody.
Usually, the HC comes up with a verdict after hearing arguments from the counsels concerned upon reply from the respondents to such a rule.
But the court could not reach a settlement as the jurisdictions of judges of its benches concerned were changed by the then chief justices after the rules were issued.
The chief justice reconstitutes the jurisdictions of HC judges as a routine work under the High Court Rules.
In the three rules, the HC asked the authorities to explain why they should not be directed to ensure protection of people held in custody and why custodial death should not be declared illegal.
Had the HC delivered a judgment on the rules, there might have been directives for the authorities to ensure protection of the accused in law enforcers' custody, some legal experts say.
According to the lawyers concerned, the authorities have yet to reply to the HC rules as no date was fixed for the hearings.
Contacted, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told The Daily Star yesterday that he did not know the current status of the HC rules.
Advocate Manzill Murshid, who moved one of the writ petitions upon which the HC issued a rule, said that in the petition his clients prayed to the HC to direct the law enforcers to ensure proper protection of a detained accused taken along on a drive to recover arms.
The HC might give directives in line with the prayer made in the petition if it could hear the rule and give a judgment, he added.
Talking to this correspondent yesterday, the lawyer said he would pray to the court for steps to hold hearing on the writ petition at a convenient time.
Manzill, also president of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), had earlier said the government, political leaders and law enforcers should reach a consensus to stop extrajudicial killings in law enforcers' custody.
Following a writ petition filed by the HRPB, the HC bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Mamnoon Rahman on August 6, 2006 issued a rule upon the government, the police and the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) to explain in three weeks why they should not be directed to ensure protection of people kept in custody.
Killings in custody are taking place in the name of "crossfire" or "encounter" in violation of the rule of law and the constitution that guarantees security of people, the petition said.
It added that many people were killed in “crossfire” in different districts in 2005 and at the beginning of 2006.
During the hearing on the petition, Manzill told the HC that about 500 people had reportedly fallen victims to extrajudicial killings in Rapid Action Battalion's custody.
He also told this correspondent that the government replies to an HC rule when the court fixes a date for its hearing.
Khurshid Alam Khan, a Supreme Court lawyer and editor of Dhaka Law Reports, earlier told The Daily Star that the HC might have given some guidelines about protection of an accused in custody if the hearings were held.
The people would have known whether extrajudicial killings were really taking place or not had the government replied to the HC rules and if the hearings were held, he said.
Khurshid added the replies to the HC rules were not given due to lack of coordination between the attorney general's office and the government.
On June 28, 2009, the HC issued a rule upon the government to explain within four weeks why extrajudicial killings in “crossfire” or “encounter” involving law enforcement agencies should not be declared illegal.
The court also asked the government to explain why departmental and punitive actions should not be taken against those responsible for such killings in custody, or elsewhere.
The HC bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique issued the rule upon a writ petition filed jointly by three rights organisations -- Ain o Salish Kendra, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust and Karmojibi Nari.
Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain is now a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
The writ petition was filed with the HC, stating that at least 969 people were killed in custody, or in “crossfire” or in “encounter” involving law enforcement agencies across the country since 2004, in violation of the constitution and provisions of law.
Petitioners' lawyer barrister Saifur Rashid told The Daily Star yesterday that the HC bench did not hold hearing on the rule as the government had taken time from it, and later on the jurisdiction of the judges of the bench was changed by the then chief justice.
On November 16, 2009, the HC bench of Justice AFM Abdur Rahman and Justice Md Emdadul Haque Azad issued a suo moto rule asking the government to explain the extrajudicial killings within 48 hours.
The judges issued the rule after Lutfor Rahman Khalasi and his younger brother Khairul Haque Khalasi, who were operatives of outlawed Purba Banglar Communist Party, were killed in a "shootout" with Rab in Madaripur Sadar upazila.
In the rule, the court directed the government to explain why proper action should not be taken against Rab officials Major Wahiduzzaman and Lieutenant Hasan and their companions for the killing of Lutfor and Khairul in custody.
Besides, the court asked the Rab director general to give an explanation in this regard.
On December 9, 2009, the attorney general's office told the HC that no incident of extrajudicial killing took place under Rab custody in Madaripur.
After some days, the jurisdiction of the judges of the bench was reconstituted by the then chief justice.
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