Custodial torture or bike accident?

A jewellery-shop worker was allegedly picked up, beaten with cricket stumps and given electric shocks by errant cops on February 11, 2019.

As per allegations, the incident culminated in the seizure of gold valued at Tk 11.58 lakh and Tk 41,300 in cash. He was released upon a payment of Tk 2 lakh made by his family members to the cops involved.

Later, Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Professional Standard and Internal Investigation Division withheld five consecutive yearly increments of three police officers, after a probe found them guilty of the crime.

DMP conducted the probe in phases between May 2019 and March 2020 before submitting the report on January 22, 2022.

PBI is trying to save the accused police officers. I filed a no-confidence petition against the PBI report in March. The court has fixed multiple hearing dates but yet to record my statement.

— Rajib Kar 'Victim' of custodial torture

However, just months after, the Police Bureau of Investigation probed the same incident and came up with a different narrative.

Submitted in December 2022, the PBI report found that the victim, Rajib Kar, was not tortured by police, but the injuries he sustained were the result of a fall from a bike.

Contacted, Rajib said PBI is trying to save the accused police officers.

"I filed a no-confidence petition against the PBI report in March. The court hasfixed multiple hearing dates but yet to record my statement."

RAJIB'S ALLEGATION

On March 3, 2022, Rajib filed a case against Sub-inspector Mizanur Rahman, 40, SI Abdul Jalil, 35, and Assistant Sub-inspector Farid Miah, 35, under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act with a Dhaka court, claiming compensation for gold jewellery seized from him during the raid.

According to the case, SI Mizan and ASI Farid, in plainclothes, picked up Rajib from his residence in Dhaka's Goalnagar area around 2:30am on February 11, 2019, and took him to the police station on a motorbike without producing any warrant.

At the station, SI Mizan and ASI Farid beat Rajib with a cricket stump in lockup, causing him to faint. When he regained consciousness, ASI Farid and SI Jalil tortured him again, this time with electric shocks. He was then taken to Mitford Hospital (Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital) and given treatment there.

Hospital records show that Rajib was taken there for treatment at 5:30am.

According to his medical report, the 28-year-old had injuries on his upper and lower lips, right index finger and ring finger, and sustained trauma to his back and both arms, which were inflicted by blunt weapons.

From the hospital, Rajib was taken back to the police station, where his phone was returned to call home for money.

Rajib claimed he was released after paying those officers Tk 2 lakh.

The Daily Star tried to get in touch with the accused, who were no longer with Kotwali Police Station, but they did not pick up their phones despite multiple attempts.

PBI FINDINGS

In response to Rajib's case, the court tasked PBI with carrying out an inquiry into the complaint.

In his report, Miah Kutubur Rahman Chowdhury, the then additional superintendent of police at PBI, ruled out any incident of custodial torture.

"When the police officers were taking Rajib to the police station on a motorbike, he tried to flee and fell from the bike," his report said.

After first aid, Rajib was kept in the lockup of the police station. Sometime later, when he started feeling unwell, the duty officer sent him to Mitford Hospital.

Contacted, Kutubur, who went on retirement in January this year, said he prepared the report based on statements from witnesses and persons relevant to the incident.

"I knew that the departmental probe had found evidence of an illegal raid. As per the court order, I probed the allegation of torture in custody."

When this reporter told him the DMP probe also found evidence of custodial torture, he claimed that he was unaware of it.

Contacted, PBI's current chief Banaj Kumar Majumder defended the PBI probe."The mistake on the part of the then Kotwali police officers was that they didn't properly keep a record of the chain of events. They have a record of some of the things that happened in between. If he [SI Mizanur] noted down the entire incident in the GD [general diary], the whole procedure [drive] would not be illegal," he said.

DMP FINDINGS

Prior to the PBI report, DMP found that Rajib was apprehended following an alleged complaint filed on February 11, 2019, by an Indian national named Sri Krishna Mandol, accusing Rajib of embezzling Tk 11.58 lakh.

In it, Mandol claimed he gave the money to Rajib to buy gold for him. So, SI Mizan and SI Jalil went to recover the gold without the complaint being first registered with the police station.

The report, submitted on January 22, 2022, said there was no instruction or signature of the officer-in-charge on the copy of the complaint.

Moreover, the raid was not noted in the GD and no seizure list was prepared regarding any recovery of gold.

Meanwhile, the accused police officers claimed they recovered the gold and handed it over to the Indian citizen, who agreed to "withdraw the complaint" against Rajib, later leading to his release into the custody of his two relatives.

In a statement made on August 2, 2019, SI Sumon Chandra Nath, the then-duty officer at Kotwali Police Station, said SI Mizanur told him not to note down Rajib Kar's name on the custody register.

"You [SI Mizanur] conducted an illegal raid, detained Rajib, brought him to the police station, and tortured him in lockup," the report said.

There was no mention of Rajib being handed over to his relatives in the GD either. While SIs Mizan and Jalil claimed they had informed the OC about the above matters, the OC denied it in his statement.

Following the initial complaint filed by the Indian citizen, all subsequent actions, including conducting the raid, apprehending Rajib, recovering the alleged gold, and attempts at reaching compromises, were carried out in an unlawful manner.

DMP deputy commissioner (Lalbagh Division) Zafar Hossain said he informed the Police Headquarters on October 13, 2022 regarding the departmental action taken against the three after the National Human Rights Commission inquired about the matter.