Torture in custody: Kishore files complaint with Dhaka court
Cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore today filed a complaint with a Dhaka court, accusing unidentified persons, for the barbaric torture he endured while in custody.
The complaint was filed with Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Judge KM Emrul Kayesh.
Kishore recounted his traumatic experience of being tortured in custody while the judge recorded his statement for half an hour.
After recording the statement, the judge said he will pass an order on the issue within a day or two.
In the statement, Kishore said that contrary to what was said in the FIR filed by Rab-3, he was picked up on May 2 last year by 16-17 people in plainclothes.
The FIR Rab-3 filed records Kishore being arrested on May 5.
On May 2 around 5:45pm Kishore woke up to loud knocking on the door of his Kakrail home, according to his statement, a copy of which was obtained by The Daily Star.
Also read: DSA case: Kishore appears before court for the first time after bail
"They searched my room but could not show any arrest warrant. They took all my digital devices including mobile, CPU, portable hard disc illegally," reads Kishore's statement.
He also mentions that he was handcuffed and a hood was put on his head so that he could not see while the unidentified men forcibly took him to an unknown and secluded place.
At the place, Kishore was shown cartoons he had drawn on a projector and asked what they meant.
"At one stage of the interrogation, one of the men got up and slapped me on my ear so hard that I lost my senses for a while," the statement quotes Kishore as saying, adding that soon after he felt blood coming out of his ear.
They also repeatedly hit Kishore with steal-plated sticks, according to the statement.
Kishore said that he was tortured like this several times till May 4 after which he found himself in Rab office where he saw writer Mushtaq.
"Mushtaq told me he was given electric shock," the cartoonist said.
Both the men were handed over to Ramna Police Station on May 6, he added.