Man’s death in Rab custody must be probed

It's really disturbing to learn of the death of yet another man in Rab custody. According to a news report, a team of Rab arrested Nazrul Islam, a 60-year-old BNP activist from Chattogram's Rangunia upazila, on March 9 in connection with a murder case. A few hours later, he apparently fell sick with chest pain. He was then taken to a hospital, where he died. While Rab claims that the man was suffering from heart- and age-related complications, the fact remains that he died while in their custody. Nazrul is not the first person to die under mysterious circumstances in law enforcement custody, and we hope a proper investigation will be carried out to unearth the truth.

According to Rab, Nazrul was a fugitive and had an FIR filed against him in connection with a murder in 2012, as well as a court-issued warrant. This gives Rab a legitimate ground to arrest him, but to allegedly cause his death is in no way acceptable. Didn't Nazrul deserve to face a trial for the charges brought against him?

Unfortunately, we have entered an era in which custodial torture has become the norm, with the victims including not only political opponents and critics of the government, but also ordinary citizens arrested on petty crime charges. Only last month, a man named Wazir Mia, arrested on charges of stealing cows, was reportedly tortured to death in a Sunamganj police station. The description of torture inflicted upon him, as given to The Daily Star by two other arrestees, was horrifying. According to Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), 16 people died in jail custody in the first two months of this year alone, which shows the gravity of the situation.

Such crimes continue to take place despite there being laws to prevent it. The Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act, 2013, for example, is precisely there to prevent such human rights violations, but the situation hasn't improved a bit. It is partly because survivors are often unwilling to pursue legal cases against their tormentors, not least because they see little chance of success with police themselves investigating the cases. Even among the few cases filed, only a handful saw convictions. Therefore, we urge the government to critically examine why these heinous crimes continue to occur, and enforce the law at all costs. The victims or their families should also be encouraged and empowered to take legal action against the errant officers of law. Such gross human rights violations cannot continue unabated.