Probe credibility under question
Legal and governance experts have expressed doubts over the credibility of the final report on Limon's case which police submitted quietly to a Jhalakathi court on Tuesday.
“Submission of the final report on the last working day before the Eid vacation is motivated … so that people forget it and do not raise questions,” said Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), yesterday.
Henoara Begum, mother of Limon Hossain, a college student maimed by Rab personnel, filed the attempt-to-murder case against six Rab men with Rajapur Police Station in Jhalakathi on April 10 last year.
Police in the report said they had found no evidence and witnesses in favour of the case.
In the case statement, Henoara said the accused shot Limon in the leg on March 23 while he was bringing cattle back home at Chhaturia village. Limon had to have his leg amputated from the thigh on March 27.
Police at first refused to record the case. But they eventually registered it following court orders on April 26 that year.
Iftekharuzzaman told The Daily Star the police were basically a party in the case, and that it was difficult for them to be neutral.
“Therefore, we earlier demanded a judicial probe, but that went unheard. We can assume that the intention of the authorities was to protect those who had taken the law in their own hands,” he said.
Such abuse by the police force will further lead to a loss of public trust in the institution, he mentioned.
Supreme Court lawyer Shahdeen Malik says that in all civilised countries, there have been separate and independent bodies to investigate allegations against the law enforcing agencies.
“In the absence of such a body, it is not at all surprising that police did not find any evidence or wrongdoing by their own men and Rab,” the jurist told The Daily Star yesterday.
The international community also perceives Bangladesh as an increasingly lawless society, he observed.
Besides, Malik said, Rab had long enjoyed impunity and immunity, and was virtually operating outside the purview of the law. “Therefore, they are not being made accountable and we are at the mercy of the force.”
Former inspector general of police ASM Shahjahan observed that the authorities should have gone for a higher level of inquiry as Limon's case was very “sensitive”.
“The DB or the CID [intelligence agencies] could have investigated the case,” he told The Daily Star yesterday.
However, as police had stated that they did not find evidence in favour of the case, there could be further investigation into the allegations, he said. “Limon's mother can demand further investigation.”
“More transparency should be maintained in such cases. The complainant should have been informed of the issues,” said Shahjahan, also a former adviser to a caretaker government.
Meanwhile, Gonotantrik Bam Morcha, an alliance of the left parties, in a statement yesterday demanded a judicial probe into the incident.
It said the police report had proved that the government was not capable of protecting minimum human rights. The police, through this act, had lost its acceptability, and also proved that it was not possible for it to conduct any “objective investigation”.
“Limon's getting injured in shooting by Rab is a fact. But the report has been submitted in such a manner that its target was to ensure relief for the Rab members from the case,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Ain o Salish Kendra Director Noor Khan Liton told BBC Bangla there were three cases over the incident -- two filed by Rab, and the other by Limon's mother.
As the police had earlier accepted Rab's cases and had submitted charge sheets in those cases, there was apprehension that the police probe would not be transparent, and it would be one-sided. “That apprehension has come true now,” he said.
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