A look at legal protection against custodial torture
News of the death of one Rayhan Ahmed (33) allegedly due to police torture at an outpost in Sylhet broke last month, with medical evidence later affirming that he was assaulted in custody and died of his injuries.
The case has once again brought the issues of custodial torture and death to the forefront.
Torturing a person while in police custody by law enforcing agencies is defined as a crime under the existing legal framework of our country. The relevant law in this regard is the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act 2013.
Under Section 2(7) of the Act, "custodial death" means death of any person in the custody of any government officials. The section further provides that custodial deaths include deaths during interrogation, regardless of whether the person under interrogation, is a witness of a case or not.
"Law Enforcement Agencies", under Section 2(4) of the said Act, means disciplined forces such as police, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Customs, Immigration, Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Special Branch, intelligence agencies, Ansar, VDP, Coast Guard and any other state agency engaged in the enforcement and implementation of law in the country.
The law envisages that a person can complain an incident of torture to the Sessions Judge's court or a police officer not less than the rank of Police Superintendent. The law also creates a scope for the complainants to petition to the court for judicial investigation instead of police investigation, for reasons of ensuring impartiality and neutrality in rendering effective investigation.
Another concern for families of victims of custodial torture and/or death, like that of Rayhan, is one of protection. Section 11 of the 2013 Act provides mechanisms to protect the complainant, under which he/she can file a petition before the Sessions Judge's court for protection from the accused. On receipt of the petition, the Court, after giving 7 days' notice to the defendants, shall
approve or reject the petition within 14 days. If deemed necessary by the Court, the accused may be ordered to be detained too.
The punishment for custodial torture is severe. Convicted persons for custodial deaths will be punished with imprisonment for life, or a fine of minimum one hundred thousand taka, or both. The harmed/aggrieved person is also, in the context of death caused by torture, shall be entitled to compensation of two hundred thousand taka. The Act also provides for punishments for those who play a complicit role in the act of torture: those who attempt to commit or assist or provoke torture, or conspire in inflicting torture, face punishment of two years' imprisonment, or fine of a minimum of twenty thousand taka, or both.