PBI Report: Kishore to lodge no- confidence

Cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore will file a no-confidence petition against the probe report submitted by Police Bureau Investigation over the torture on him in custody.

Kishore's lawyer yesterday submitted an application seeking permission for filing the no-confidence petition on the next scheduled date.

After granting the petition, Judge KM Emrul Kayesh of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court of Dhaka fixed February 23, 2022, for submitting the petition against the probe report, said Additional Public Prosecutor Tapash Kumar Pal.

Earlier on October 17, Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, superintendent of police at PBI, submitted the report to the court.

In the probe report, the IO said they did not find any evidence that one or more people picked up Kishore from his home and tortured him physically and mentally in May last year.

Kishore's allegations of torture against 16-17 unnamed individuals in plainclothes were not primarily proved, the IO added in his probe report.

The cartoonist filed the case on March 10 stating that he was picked up from his residence around 5:45pm on May 2 last year and tortured until May 4 and that he found himself in a Rab office on May 5.

Kishore filed the case under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act, seeking redress. Judge KM Emrul Kayesh then directed the PBI to investigate the complaint.

When he filed the case, Kishore told the judge how he was brutally tortured before he was shown on record as arrested in a case filed under the Digital Security Act.

After languishing in jail for almost 10 months, the cartoonist walked out on bail on March 4 this year. He then told journalists how he was tortured and wrote multiple times on Facebook about his ordeal in custody.

The probe report, written by the PIB officer, said the victim could not provide any information about the 16-17 men in plainclothes, who supposedly picked him up.

The investigator did not find any "seizable evidence", it said, adding that the complainant could not produce any evidence before the investigator.

During the investigation, people around the scene were asked about CCTV footage, but could not provide any information, the report adds.