Bangladesh court asks end to extra-judicial killings

Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:34am EDT


By Nizam Ahmed

DHAKA, June 29 (Reuters) - The Bangladesh High Court asked the home ministry and security forces on Monday to stop extra-judicial killings of alleged criminals.

Deaths of people detained for alleged criminal links are often reported across the country by security forces who say the prisoners were brought along to assist in purported raids and other action against gangs.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in May that more than 1,000 people had suffered extra-judicial deaths in Bangladesh over the past five years, though the numbers had dropped since a new government took power in January 2009.

"The High Court also asked the secretary of the home ministry and chiefs of police and the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) force to explain within the next four weeks why criminal proceedings should not be drawn against such killings," a court registrar told reporters.

The order was issued following a petition by three local rights organisations, which claimed at least 10 people had been killed during what the organisations said were recent fake encounters in the capital Dhaka alone.

The latest controversy was sparked when two polytechnic students were killed in Dhaka during an alleged violent encounter between the RAB and criminals early this month.

After every such death police or the RAB say the suspected criminals were killed in the crossfire after their cohorts attacked security forces during a raid.

Home Minister Sahara Khatun said last week all extra-judicial killings would be investigated, but she again said it was a constitutional right of the security forces to retaliate when attacked.

HRW urged Bangladesh's democratically elected government to end alleged impunity for unlawful killings. It said the military, the RAB, and the police have been responsible for the killings.

According to local rights group Odhikar, 322 people were killed in encounters during the last two years of the interim government ahead of general elections last December.

After the election the new prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, announced extrajudicial killings perpetrated during the tenure of the interim government would be investigated.

The RAB was formed in 2004 in the midst of a crime wave and played a key role confronting Islamist militants responsible for a spate of bombings that killed dozens of people, including judges, lawyers, police and officials. (Editing by Anis Ahmed and Jerry Norton)





Comments (0)
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.