Another death in Rab custody
We have lost count of the number of times we have pointed out how cases of custodial deaths under mysterious circumstances, of people picked up by law enforcement agencies, is sapping the trust of citizens on the agencies. In most of these cases, what emerge are contradictory narratives by law enforcement officials and the victims' families. On September 19, we reported the death of Majharul Islam from Naogaon who was picked up by Rab and was later found dead at the hospital morgue.
Family members, who filed a case against company commander of Rab-5 camp of Joypurhat, claimed that led by the commander, plainclothesmen picked up Majharul near his house. They took him inside and kept beating him, and later dragged him through the village, continuing the beating. The family members were asked to look for him at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, where they found him, already dead. The family was also threatened with crossfire if they spoke out about the incident.
Rab gave a completely contradictory statement claiming that the victim was an arms dealer, and had died of heart attack when arrested. We believe that whatever may be the charges against an accused person, the legal processes must not be circumvented. It is all the more baffling, that instead of promising an investigation, the director of Rajshahi zone Rab said that it was "bad luck that he died; otherwise, we would have seized those firearms."
The claim of heart attack does not wash—post mortem shows signs of injury on the body. Unless proper investigation is conducted, the acts of these members who act outside the law will tarnish the image of the body as a whole. For its own credibility, we hope that finally Rab would conduct an internal investigation, additionally with the ongoing case, determine the truth and take appropriate action.
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