Govt skirts HC orders to arrest en masse

Relatives of arrestees gather before a prison van in front of the CMM court in Dhaka yesterday. Police round up a large number of 14-party activists ahead of the opposition's Dhaka siege programme on June 11. PHOTO: STAR

Bypassing the High Court's directives not to arrest anyone under sections 54 and 167 of CrPC and section 86 of DMP Ordinance, the government has been continuing mass arrests, leading human rights organisations including the Bangladesh Bar Council alleged.

The rights bodies at a press conference yesterday said they have also observed misuse of other sections of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Ordinance in the same way.

As on earlier occasions, the government has started mass arrests recently through block raids, sudden raids and by setting up check-posts at different points, especially ahead of the 14-party opposition's programme on June 11, leaders of the organisations said.

Mentioning some incidents of mass arrest since 2004, they said they moved against the arrests in the High Court on several occasions and the court issued rule, ordering not to arrest anyone under section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and section 86 of the DMP Ordinance.

But this time the number of arrestees shown accused in pending cases is much higher than those under different sections of the DMP Ordinance, the leaders said.

An Ain O Shalish Kendro (ASK) statistics presented at the press conference said 532 persons were arrested under 11 DMP police stations during June 1-6. Of them, 415 were shown arrested as accused in old cases and the rest under the DMP Ordinance.

The other police stations in the capital also arrested innocent people, according to the ASK statistics.

Even yesterday, the DMP arrested 316 people, said a DMP press release.

The DMP statistics showed 21 of them as arrested under arrest warrants, 189 in regular cases, two under section 54 of the CrPC and 104 under different sections of the DMP Ordinance except section 86.

The leaders said the ASK had submitted a memorandum to the state minister for home affairs on June 4, requesting him to stop mass arrest and torture immediately and provide the arrestees with compensations. The harassment of innocent people, however, has been increasing, they said.

"It is intentional and a direct interference in the democratic practice in the country," said Advocate ZI Khan Panna, member of Bangladesh Bar Council and chairman of its Human Rights and Legal Aid Committee.

Condemning the ongoing wholesale arrest, he said, "It is a clear violation of the basic rights as enshrined in articles 27, 31, 32, 33, 35 and 36 of the constitution."

The rights leaders demanded immediate release of the innocent arrestees and an explanation from the government regarding the arrests.

"We will keep on trying for the release of the innocent arrestees," said advocate Sultana Kamal, executive director of ASK.

The Bangladesh Bar Council, Supreme Court Bar Association, Ain O Shalish Kendro, Bangladesh Manobadhikar Bastabayan Sangstha, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Bangladesh Environment Lawyers' Association (Bela), Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA), Karmojibi Nari, Hotline Human Rights Bangladesh, Nijera Kori, Nari Pakkho, Centre for Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors, Bangladesh, and Association for Land Reform and Development organised the press conference.

Dr Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, Advocate AM Aminuddin, Advocate Mahbub Ali, Advocate M Enayetur Rahim, Advocate Seema Zahur, Dr Faustina Pereira and Dr Kazi Rezaul Haque, among others, were also present at the press conference.