HC asks cops to explain

The High Court in a suo moto move yesterday summoned the officers-in-charge concerned to explain their actions regarding the murders of schoolgirl Tumpa and her brother Babla.
The HC bench of Justice Shamim Hasnain and Justice Md Rezaul Hasan ordered the OCs of Shahbagh police in Dhaka and Raipura police in Narsingdi to appear before it on March 21 with the investigation reports on the cases filed over the separate incidents.
The OCs have to explain their actions and developments of the cases to the HC that day.
It passed the order following a report published on The Daily Star yesterday with the headline "Tumpa Abduction, Murder: Same gang killed her brother last May".
The report says the police suspect the same gang that allegedly killed schoolgirl Ayesha Akhter Tumpa after kidnapping her from the capital on February 14 also killed her brother Al Kawsar Masud alias Babla eight months ago.
The body of Tumpa, 15, a student of class Ten at Begum Rahima Adarsha High School in Segunbagicha, Dhaka, was found floating in a canal at Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) dam on February 16.
Tumpa's brother Babla once slapped a member of that gang for stalking his sister in Segunbagicha. After 15 days on May 31 last year Babla's body was found floating in the Kakon river of Narsingdi, according to the newspaper report.
The court yesterday also issued a rule upon the authorities concerned and the police to explain within four weeks why they should not be directed to take effective measures to arrest and punish the culprits.
Expressing grave concern over the incidents, the HC bench also ordered the police to provide necessary security to the victims' family members and the witnesses of the cases.
Tumpa would not be victimised if the law enforcers took necessary steps over the murder of her brother, the court observed.