Stop extra-judicial punishment: HC

The High Court yesterday directed the inspector general of police (IGP) to issue a notification to all police stations for taking action against extra-judicial punishments taking place in the name of arbitration.
During the hearing of a rule, the court asked the IGP to mention in the notification that the police would have to record cases without any written allegation of such punishments.
It ordered the LGRD secretary to issue another notification to inform all local government bodies, including union parishads and municipalities, that their representatives cannot punish anybody in arbitration which is a punishable offence.
The HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik and Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim also directed the information secretary to broadcast the directives through media.
The bench had issued the rule on February 22 following a report published in Prothom Alo stating that a woman and her husband's friend were lashed a total 101 times in an arbitration in Naogaon for “having an extramarital affair.”