Some youths commit crimes using student politics: HC
The rich and the powerful in the society enjoy a type of impunity and they can easily influence the outcome of an investigation after committing an offence, observes the High Court yesterday in the full text of its verdict on the sensational Bishwajit Das murder case.
“In many cases, the police and other investigating/ inquiring agencies, doctors, experts come in the aid of the offenders by furnishing motivated and false report. They do it under political or social influence, or sometimes for illegal monetary gain or fulfilment of any other purpose.
These sorts of unfair and motivated investigation (s) must not be allowed to continue and the public servants, who are entrusted with such responsibilities, must be made accountable. If the judiciary cannot play its due role to ensure justice by punishing the offenders and protecting the innocent citizens, the rule of law will be at stake,” the HC also said.
Bishwajit Das, a tailor shop employee, was hacked to death in broad daylight in Dhaka by a group of activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League, a front organisation of ruling Awami League, during a countrywide road blockade on December 9, 2012.
On August 6 this year, the HC delivered the verdict on the death reference and appeals in the murder case.
In the verdict, it upheld death sentences of two BCL men, commuted that of four to life term imprisonment and acquitted two others. All of the eight were handed down capital punishments by a lower court on December 18, 2013.
The HC bench of Justice Md Ruhul Quddus and Justice Bhishmadev Chakrabortty in the full verdict said some youths involved in organised criminal activities are stigmatising student politics.
“... the glorious student politics of this land, having long history of heroic struggle, is being seriously stigmatised because of some youths, who in the name of the student politics, actually are involved in organised criminal activities.
Sometimes they need to show their power and strength openly and notoriously to make their domination absolute in their area. Some so-called political leaders patronise them for their own interests.”
“We have also seen in newspapers that teachers are [being] beaten by them [youths] because of not being allowed to copy in public examinations. In many student dormitories, they take administration in their own hands and allot seats to general students on rental basis,” observed the HC judges.
“They [youths] also compel general students to participate in their processions and meetings to add extra credit to their credentials by showing greater number of participations. This is really an alarming and disappointing situation. The nation wants to get rid of it.”
“It is, therefore, expected that responsible national leaders, both in power and opposition, will address this problem in adopting their policy regarding student politics and movement. They must not encourage the youth and students to take the law in hand for resisting opposition activities, even those are violent or anarchic and not approved by law,” the HC judges observed in the full verdict.
On the incident of sending Bishwajit's body to his village home without filing any case, they said, “It is surprising that without lodging an FIR [first information report], even an unnatural death case, the dead body was sent to the village home of the victim, where he was cremated with all the marks of injuries.”
The HC also said there are reasons to believe that the inquest report as well as Bishwajit's post-mortem report was tainted with ill motive and appropriate departmental measures should be taken against the persons who intended to defeat the justice.
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