Eminent jurists and human rights activists have strongly criticised the government for largely ignoring the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court's guidelines on placing citizens on remand after arresting them on suspicion of their involvement in violence during the recent student protests for the reform of quotas in government jobs. They also condemned the government for allegedly maintaining the 'illegal' detention of six coordinators of the anti-discrimination students' movement.
They have formed a nine-member 'National Public Inquiry Committee' comprising teachers, lawyers, cultural workers, and parents of students to conduct a fair investigation into the killing of students and citizens during the recent student protests for the reform of quotas in government jobs.
"A large number of students have been killed in the quota reform movement. So many people have never been killed in the history of the country over a non-political demand. The right to assembly is guaranteed by the constitution. However, the government is violating the constitution at every step. Clashes surrounding the quota reform movement have been criminalised by firing. This should be scrutinised," the lawyers alleged while addressing a human chain at the Supreme Court premises.
The Lawyers' Association organised the human chain under the title 'We want justice for genocide, stop absentee cases, arrests and torture'. Freedom fighter and senior Supreme Court lawyer ZI Khan Panna said that according to the Appellate Division's guidelines regarding detention and remand-related cases, if anyone is detained or arrested, they must be informed of the reason within three hours of detention. Their nominated lawyers and parents must be allowed to meet them and they must be produced before the nearest magistrate's court within 24 hours after detention, he said.
"The law enforcers kept protesting students detained in violation of the Supreme Court's guidelines and the relevant provisions of the law and constitution," said Panna, also a human rights activist. Criticising detentions from residences by 'block raid' in the dark of the night, ZI Khan Panna said, "By what right, by what law is it permissible to pick up people, mostly young, through block raids? He claimed that the constitution, which was obtained in exchange for blood, is being neglected by the government.
Referring to the six students, Panna said, "I want to inform you (DB Harun) that there is a directive from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court. In defiance of that, you detained the six coordinators. You will have to answer for this."
Rights lawyer Sara Hossain alleged that members of law enforcement agencies are not following the directives and guidelines of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court while arresting citizens and putting them on remand. There is a prohibition on arresting people without a warrant and a case according to the Supreme Court's guidelines for law enforcers.
On May 24, 2016, the Appellate Division issued a landmark judgement with 10-point guidelines for law enforcers to follow while making arrests. The apex court, in the same verdict, laid down nine additional guidelines for judicial magistrates while granting remand for people in jail or police custody. The guidelines instructed magistrates to reject requests for showing an accused if the request was not well founded.
The magistrate shall not order the detention of a person in judicial custody if the police forwarding report discloses that the arrest was made for the purpose of putting the arrestee in preventive detention. It is the duty of the magistrate or tribunal before whom the accused person is produced to ensure that these requirements have been complied with before making any order for remand.
If the magistrate has reason to believe that any member of law enforcement agencies or any officer with legal authority to keep a person in confinement has acted contrary to the law, the magistrate shall proceed against such an officer under Section 220 of the Penal Code.
The guidelines for members of law enforcement agencies prohibit seeking detention or remand of an arrested citizen without registering a First Information Report against the person. Law enforcement agencies are also required to disclose their identities and show identity cards during arrests. They must inform a relative of the arrested person within 12 hours of any arrest, as well as the place of arrest, the reason for the arrest, and the case complaint.
The law enforcement officer must also prepare a 'memorandum of arrest' immediately after the arrest and obtain the signature of the arrested person with the date and time of his arrest in the police document. The officer is required to file an entry in the diary detailing the grounds for the arrest of an individual and the name of the person who informed the law enforcement officer to make the arrest or made the complaint, along with their address.
They are required to produce arrested persons before the magistrates within 24 hours and allow access to their lawyers for consultation. The law enforcement officer must take an arrested person for treatment to the nearest hospital and obtain a medical certificate if any marks of injury are found. 'These guidelines are completely ignored by both the members of law enforcement agencies and the magistrates during the current wave of arrests, detentions, and remands of students and opposition political leaders and activists in sabotage cases,' jurist Shahdeen Malik said.
Barrister Sara Hossain said, "We want to know why they (students and ordinary people) died, how many died, where they died, and by whose hands they died. Thousands of students and members of the public were subjected to mass arrests. I heard yesterday that not a single person has been granted bail in the Dhaka court."
Supreme Court Lawyer Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua demanded that every murder be investigated and every person responsible be brought to justice. "There are no laws in the country under which anyone can be arbitrarily picked up. There is no terminology for picking someone up to provide security. Picking someone up is abduction and abduction is a criminal offence. If they [police] want to arrest anyone, they have to comply with the directives of the Supreme Court."
Stating that the Metrorail and flyovers were built with public tax money, Supreme Court lawyer Manzoor Al Mateen said, "The government should answer why so many people died."
Lawyers Aneek R Haque read the written statement at the human chain. The statement said that students involved in the movement were tortured, shot, and subjected to mass arrests. There is a need to reveal the cause of these incidents, ensure a fair investigation, and conduct a trial. As part of this, the National Public Inquiry Committee has been formed by teachers, lawyers, cultural workers, and general parents of Bangladesh.
The members of the National Public Inquiry Committee are former Appellate Division Justice Md Abdul Matin, human rights activist Sultana Kamal, Senior lawyer ZI Khan Panna, senior journalist Abu Syeed Khan, Professor Gitiara Nasrin, senior journalist Ashraf Kaiser, Barrister Aneek R Haque, Professor Tanjimuddin, and writer and researcher Maha Mirza.
Former Appellate Division Justice Abdul Matin and Sultana Kamal will jointly serve as the president of the committee, while Professor Tanjimuddin and researcher Maha Mirza will jointly serve as the member secretaries of the committee.
