HC asks govt to close 4 policemen

The High Court (HC) yesterday directed the government to close within five days the four police personnel accused in a murder case filed for death of a medical representative in their custody in Gaibandha.
The accused are--the then officer-in-charge (OC) of Gaibandha police station Md Nurul Alam, now posted to Osmani Nagar in Sylhet, the then sub-inspector of the police station Fahima Haider, now stationed at Lalmonirhat and police constables Dulal Chandra Sarker and Mizanur Rahman.
Sajidur Rahman Sajid, a medical representative of Gaibandha, died in police custody in the district on May 21, 2006.
An HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Md Delwar Hossain yesterday also asked the government to take departmental actions as per the service rule against the accused.
It ordered the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to submit a report on implementation of the order to the court by June 17.
The bench also issued a rule upon the government to explain why it should not be directed to discharge constitutional duties to protect the lives of the people.
The court came up with the order upon a public interest litigation filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) on the basis of a report published in The Daily Star on June 2 this year titled “No tolerance for custodial death”
According to the report, an HC bench on June 1 rejected a bail petition filed by the four policemen and asked them to surrender before the Sessions Judge's Court in Gaibandha within eight weeks in connection with the murder case against them.
The medical report stated that Sajid died of physical torture, but Md Nurul Alam filed an unnatural death case, the news item said, adding that Aminul Islam, convener of Gaibandha Nagorik Committee, filed a murder case with the Judicial Magistrate's Court of the district, implicating names of the four police personnel.
Advocate Manzill Murshid appeared for HRPB, while Deputy Attorney General Nazrul Islam Talukder represented the state.