Death in police custody again

We are deeply troubled to learn of another death in police custody. This time, the victim was a poor man named Wazir Mia, who had been picked up along with two others on February 10, 2022 on charges of stealing cows. The two other arrestees recently gave a horrific account of torture inflicted on Wazir while in custody inside Shantiganj police station in Sunamganj, which ultimately led to his death. When policemen hang an accused person upside down from the ceiling and beat him mercilessly, we can't help but wonder: What could embolden them to go to such lengths? Why such wrathful treatment to a citizen on prima facie charges of theft? Or is there a more sinister story behind, which needs to be uncovered?

The truth will come out if a neutral body undertakes a proper investigation. Meanwhile, the people of Wazir's village are not convinced with the police account of the entire episode. They want justice and have gone out to block the Sunamganj-Sylhet road at Pagla Bazar, demanding punishment for the responsible cops.

Death of an accused in police custody is an extreme form of violation of human rights and dignity. The custodians of law must not turn into law-breakers under any pretext, and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms. Unfortunately, such stories of torture and death are not uncommon, although victims rarely get justice. One may recall the custodial death of Ishtiaque Hossain Jonny in 2014. Six years after Jonny was murdered, a Dhaka court gave the country's first-ever verdict in a lawsuit filed under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act—in which it sentenced three of the accused policemen to life imprisonment and two others to seven years in jail. The enormity of the crime was aptly summarised in a single word of the presiding judge: "heinous."  

Evidently, such crimes are still taking place. For example, several rights organisations in their presentation to the UN's Committee against Torture alleged that 348 prisoners died in custody in Bangladesh since the anti-torture and custodial death law was enacted in 2013. This heinous trend must stop. We often hear the higher authorities say that they want the law enforcers to act as people's friends. Police and the higher authorities both must strive to make this a reality, and build a mechanism to prevent such extrajudicial undertakings.