Dastagir Jahangir
On August 5, Jatrabari police station in the capital was attacked, 4 policemen were beaten to death and the police station was set on fire. Constable Abdul Majeed was beaten to death while on duty at the police station. Constable Abdul Majeed’s wife Shahzadi Begum filed a murder case against unknown accused at Jatrabari Police Station on September 23 in connection with that murder. Investigation of the case has not started yet.
Shahzadi Begum is currently staying at her father’s house in Nilphamari with her two sons. On the telephone, she said, “Many reports are being printed in the newspapers about the students who died during the agitation. But there is no report about the police brothers who died. My husband did not do any duty in the agitation. He was at the police station. On August 5, the police station He was beaten to death by entering. I myself filed a case in this incident but no one contacted us.”
“I am in a lot of trouble with my two sons. No one from the police or the government has contacted us. No one even came to console,” said Shahzadi Begum. No one is looking for the families of the policemen. The constables followed the instructions of the above sirs. Constables to SI ranks have died while carrying out this order. No senior officer died! But we are now in a helpless situation. My husband had another 14-15 years of service. I want till then we are given salary and ration. Besides, the government should make an arrangement for the families of all the policemen killed.”
The recent attacks and killings on the police in Bangladesh are unprecedented in history. But the current interim government has issued a notification with impunity to block the way of justice in these cases. This is not the end, before this, the government has been accused of creating a process to exonerate those responsible from the cases filed in connection with the attack of Islami Chhatra Shibir, a student organization of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, on the police from 2013 to 2015.
Recently, a total of 44 policemen were reported to have been killed by the office of the Chief Advisor of the Interim Government. Although thousands of policemen are still missing, those who have not turned up for duty and no one knows where they are. The government has declared them fugitives without taking responsibility for finding them.
According to the police headquarters, 44 policemen were killed during the movement of the students. These policemen died between July 20 and August 14. A maximum of 25 policemen died on August 5 out of 44. 15 people died the previous day on August 4. Apart from this, two policemen died while undergoing treatment on July 20, one on July 21 and one on August 14. Analyzing the list, it was found that the highest number of 21 deaths were members of constable rank. Apart from this, the list of dead persons includes 11 sub-inspectors, 8 assistant sub-inspectors, 3 inspectors and one Naik. As a single police station, the maximum number of 15 policemen were killed in Enayetpur police station of Sirajganj.
On the one hand, ‘impunity’ in the case of the killing of colleagues, on the other hand, the International Criminal Tribunal has asked to know who and where the policemen performed their duties during the students’ movement. There is frustration in the police administration regarding these two issues. Police officials say any murder should be prosecuted. The real culprits should be found and brought to justice. Otherwise justice will not be established in the society. But only those killed in the movement are being tried. Doubts have arisen over the trial of the policeman’s murder.
In an instruction issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on October 14, it has been said not to prosecute, arrest and harass anyone involved in the student movement from July 15 to August 8. After that, the question arose, whether the policemen who were killed at that time will get justice? Apart from this, the victims of murder, looting and arson incidents across the country from August 5 to August 8 will also be deprived of justice.
Several police officers said that not all the policemen who were killed in the killings were killed while on duty. Some have been killed while returning home from work in plain clothes. Some were brutally beaten to death under the house.
According to police sources, Inspector Masood Parvez Bhuiyan of Police Bureau of Investigation-PBI was killed in Rampura on 19th July. He was working in Narayanganj district of PBI. He was staying at home on vacation on the day of the incident. When he went down to the house in the evening, he was beaten to death by a riotous crowd. Masood Parvez’s wife Marina Akhter filed a murder case at Khilgaon Police Station as the plaintiff on July 23 in that incident. In the case, BNP-Jamaat leaders and activists have been named as accused. But no one has been arrested in the case of that murder till now. Colleagues think that the future of that case is also uncertain.
A senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said the killing was a criminal offence. It is never tamadi or there is never any chance of impunity in case of murder. Then injustice will be done to the victim’s family. But now it seems that the victim’s family will not get justice in these cases. These cases are stuck in limbo.
15 policemen including OC Abdur Razzak of Enayetpur Police Station of Sirajganj were hacked to death during the student-public movement. Some of them were hanged with ropes around their necks, some were thrown into ponds. In this incident, a police officer became the accused and filed a murder case.
Police Inspector (Investigation) SM Kamal is investigating the case. He said, “We have not yet arrested anyone in this case.” However, police station officer-in-charge (OC) Roshan Yazdani said, “The names of 4 accused have been mentioned in the affidavit. The rest are unknown. All the 4 named persons are absconding at present. As a result, no one has been arrested so far.”
Enayetpur police station OC Abdur Razzak’s younger sister Mounjera Khatun Alif is a technologist at a private hospital in Dhaka. He said, “Since my brother’s death, no one has contacted us till now. My mother has been bedridden for 4 years. No one has even come to console her. Instead, we have contacted the police station many times, for the postmortem report. But we have not received it yet.”
Abdul Razzak was the eldest among four brothers and four sisters. Divorced with his wife, he has no children. Mounzera Khatun Alif said, “I live in Dhaka, so I don’t know if there is any pressure on the family.”
Dastagir Jahangir, Editor, The Voice