The High Court on Thursday (July 28) ordered the inspector general of police to suspend three police officers of Khilgaon Police Station including its chief for torturing a Dhaka University student.
It also ordered the government to provide treatment to Abdul Quader, a biochemistry and molecular biology student, at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) hospital.
The HC directed the government to give Quader facilities so that he can move his bail petition to the lower court.
A division bench comprising Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore also asked the law secretary to form a committee headed by an officer with the rank of joint secretary to investigate the incident of detention and torture of Quader.
The judges ordered the police chief to set up another parallel committee to look into the matter.
The two committees will submit their reports before the HC in eight weeks.
The three police officers are: Officer-in-charge of the police station Helal Uddin, Sub-Inspector Alam Badsha and Assistant SI Shahidur Rahman.
Complying with the court’s order, police produced Quader before it at about 5:00pm.
Worried at the news of detention and torture of Quader, the HC earlier in the day summoned heads of Mohammadpur and Khilgaon police stations to explain their acts.
Responding with the court order, Quader’s teacher Prof Anwar Hossain, and Dr Mizanur Rahman, chairman of National Human Rights Commission, also appeared before the judges to place their statements in this regard.
The suo moto move came hours after a report headlined “Police out to 'frame' youth” was published in The Daily Star.
Known as a gentle, caring person to his classmates and teachers, Quader has been detained for the last 11 days in two cases for robbery and possessing sharp weapons.
The carjacking case was filed by Mohammadpur police on July 15 accusing five to six unnamed people. Quader, who was arrested by Khilgaon police in the city's Segunbagicha area in the early hours of July 16, was made an accused in it Wednesday.
Family members, classmates and teachers have alleged that police beat him up so hard that he could not walk and had to be admitted to hospital.
They claimed the police hacked Quader in the leg with a machete to frame him as a robber.
Citing the news which detailed the agony of the amiable boy, the HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore expressed concern over the way the boy has been treated so far.
It ordered the officers-in-charge of Mohammadpur and Khilgaon police stations to appear before it and produce Quader at 3:30pm Thursday.
The court asked the commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police to ensure that Quader is produced before the court.
Prof Mamun Rashid Chowdhury, chairman of the biochemistry and molecular biology department, claimed on Wednesday that there is no doubt that Quader is innocent since he has never been involved in any unlawful activities.
“I'm sure he is a victim of police mess-up. Instead of admitting their mistakes, the police are now trying to cover them up like they did in the case of Limon (Jhalakati college student whom the Rapid Action Battalion men shot and maimed on March 23),” Prof Mamun criticised.
Quader told his classmates and teachers at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on July 16 that he was picked up by police in Segunbagicha around 1:00am the previous day while he was returning to his dormitory, Fazlul Haq Muslim Hall.
Khilgaon police, in contrary, claimed to have arrested him between 3:00am and 3:30am on July 16, saying a mob caught him red-handed while robbing.
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