The Government of Bangladesh has conducted a political crackdown of massive proportions, arresting over 10000 persons between February 2nd and 5th, 2006. The police have randomly an arbitrarily arrested large numbers of persons, with the poor being targeted in particular. The arrests without warrants are being conducted through abusive application of Section 86 of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Ordinance and Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC). Approximately 6500 persons are still being detained in police facilities, without having been presented before a court, despite Bangladeshi law requiring the police present arrested persons to courts within 24 hours of arrest. Around 3500 persons have been brought before courts on fabricated charges and are either being detained in prison or have been released on bail.
The widespread arrests began when an alliance of 14 opposition political parties declared a long march programme in various parts of the country, which culminated after several days in a grand rally in the capital, Dhaka, on February 5, 2006. The demonstrators were denouncing the electoral process and election commission in particular, and calling for the resignation of the current government. Reports indicate that those arrested were not participants in the march, but rather, were members of the poorest sections of society. It is thought that the arrests were conducted to create a climate of intense fear at the time of the demonstrations.
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received a number of documented cases that highlight the flagrant and arbitrary nature of the mass arrests. For example, Md. Khairul Islam was arrested by the police in the evening of February 3, 2006, while on his way to work a nightshift at a garment factory in Arambag in the Motijheel commercial area, Dhaka. He was taken to the Motijheel police station, where the police purposefully falsely implicated him in a theft case before producing him before court. Despite the fact that the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Dhaka granted him bail on February 4, 2006, he had still not been released from Dhaka Central Jail on February 5, 2006, as his family had not been able to pay the jail police a bribe of 300 Taka.
In another case, 25 year old Mr. Rafik Khan was arrested from his hut in Kadamtali village on February 2, 2006, by policemen from the Ikuria police station. The policemen broke down the door and entered into the hut, where Mr. Rafik Khan was sleeping. They arrested Mr. Rafik Khan without giving any specific reasons or charges against him. The police intimidated his mother, Mrs. Shefali Begum, who was also sleeping in the hut. Mrs. Shefali collects abandoned papers from the streets of Dhaka city and sells them to paper mongers. Her son works as a painter. The police have systematically targeted the poor in this widespread and arbitrary crackdown. Despite the police being obliged under law to produce arrested persons before courts within 24 hours of their arrest, Mr. Rafik Khan had still not been produced by February 5, 2006. Little else is known about his whereabouts or personal integrity.
This is the case with thousands of other persons in his situation. The AHRC is gravely concerned that they may be subjected to ill-treatment notably given the number of arrested persons being detained in already over-crowded facilities in the country and torture, which is systematically practiced in Bangladesh, notably against the poorest, most vulnerable persons in the country.
Reports indicated that the police are systematically fabricating charges against the arrested persons before bringing them before courts. While some 1500 persons have reportedly been released, many of them have been released on bail following their having been produced before courts. It is thought that many persons have been forced to pay bribes in order to be charged under Section 54 of the Cr.PC, under which it is easier to get bail. Those unwilling or unable to pay bribes, as is the case with many destitute persons, face the possibility of being falsely implicated in murder, robbery or narcotics cases. Facing such charges, it becomes a very difficult and lengthy process to get bail in Bangladesh.
On February 5, 2006, a High Court Division Bench of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh issued an injunction restraining the government from any further arrests without warrants under section 86 of the DMP Ordinance and section 54 of the Cr.PC. The Court directed the respondents to submit a report in two weeks detailing the names and particulars of persons arrested under the two laws. Following the intervention of the Appellate Division Bench of the Supreme Court, the government has been granted a further two weeks to present its report. The High Court Division Bench asked the government to explain why the ‘wholesale’ arrests and detention of citizens under section 54 of the Cr.PC should not be declared illegal and why it should not be directed to refrain from ‘unwarranted and abusive exercise of powers’ under section 86 of the DMP Ordinance. It also called upon the government to explain why section 86 of the DMP Ordinance should not be declared unlawful and contradictory to the constitution of the country, and why the government should not pay compensation to the victims.
This injunction, which is welcomed by the AHRC, has led to a cessation of the arrests, but the damage has already been done. Thousands of persons have had their rights violated and many of them remain in detention and at risk of further abuse. Even those persons who have been released on bail, face the prospect of several years of trial in relation to the fabricated charges against them, which present severe costs to bear and loss of income as well as the very real risk of being found guilty despite their innocence. The process of investigation by the police presents further risks of being subjected to bribery, and in the case of persons not being able to pay, the police are known to fabricate findings in order to ensure that the person is convicted. Even if the persons are freed in relation to such cases, they remain blacklisted by the police and frequently face further arrests in future operations by the police, as well as stigmatisation in society.
The AHRC recalls that on April 7, 2003 the Supreme Court of Bangladesh ordered the authorities to refrain from abusive use of section 86 of the DMP Ordinance and section 54 of the Cr.PC. The authorities must immediately halt such abuses.
Furthermore, the AHRC calls upon the government to immediately order an independent judicial investigation into all arrests during this three-day period, in order to ascertain the existence of valid legal charges against the persons in question. The authorities should order the immediate release of all persons found to have been arrested arbitrarily; immediately drop all charges against these persons; launch an independent investigation to identify all persons responsible and bring them to justice; and provide prompt and adequate reparation to all the victims. Violations to be investigated include arbitrary arrests, the violation of the 24 hour period before presenting arrested persons before a court, any allegations of ill-treatment or torture, and in general the violation of the Supreme Court order concerning the abusive use of section 86 of the DMP Ordinance and section 54 of the Cr.PC.
