A written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organisation with general consultative status
BANGLADESH: The perpetrators of over 1000 extra-judicial killings must be brought to justice
Despite being a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) since 6 September 2000 and a member of the Human Rights Council, Bangladesh continues to be the scene of a large number of extra-judicial killings accompanied by total impunity. According to Article 2 and 6 of the ICCPR, the Bangladeshi authorities have the obligation to ensure the right to life of the country’s people and must provide prompt and effective remedies in cases where any violations takes place. Bangladesh also has the obligation to introduce legislation that is in conformity with the ICCPR, but continues to fail in this regard.
Article 32 of the Constitution of Bangladesh protects the people’s right to life and liberty, as fundamental rights. The provision reads:
“No person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty save in accordance with law.”
Despite these rights being enshrined in the country’s supreme law, they are being violated on a scale that requires the attention of the Human Rights Council, which has to date failed to address the situation of rights in Bangladesh. According to local human rights groups, during the last four years alone, there have been at least 1051 extra-judicial killings perpetrated by Bangladesh’s law-enforcement agencies, notably the Rapid Action Battalion, the police and the armed forces. In not a single one of these cases have the authorities allowed complaints to be lodged.
The ALRC recalls that there are provisions for the lodging of complaints with the police under Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure-1898, which states that:
“Every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence if given orally to an officer in charge of a police-station, shall be reduced to writing by him or under his direction, and be read over to the informant; and every such information, whether given in writing or reduced to writing as aforesaid, shall be signed by the person giving it, and the substance thereof shall be entered in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the Government may prescribe in this behalf.”
However, when the police themselves, or other branches of law-enforcement, are the alleged perpetrators of abuses, such avenues for complaints are fully obstructed. This is the case in particular with the gravest abuses, notably extra-judicial killings.
Typically, regarding extra-judicial killings, the police at the first hurriedly register a complaint of unnatural death. Such complaints are registered under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure-1898 as an “accidental or suicidal death” instead of a “homicidal death.” The same provision also empowers an “Executive Magistrate” to inquire into the incident. In all cases, the law-enforcement agents and the magistrates conspire to disguise the extra-judicial killings, notably by branding them as “crossfire” or “encounter” killings.
In the rare case where complainants attempt to lodge complaints of extra-judicial killing by State-actors, the police not only refuse to record the complaint but also intimidate the complainants and even other members of their families. Furthermore, the authorities typically then engage in smear campaigns against the victims, labelling them as being suspects or accused persons in criminal cases, including fabricating charges and/or cases against such persons. Such fabrication is commonplace in Bangladesh, and includes serious crimes like robbery, murder and the possession of illegal weapons.
The ALRC has also documented cases that show that the police also threaten complainants with extra-judicial killings under the cover of “crossfire” incidents. The message is clear to anyone that dares to complain about extra-judicial killings by the authorities in Bangladesh: complain and be killed. This leads to the perpetrators of such grave human rights abuses being able to operate and re-offend in the knowledge that their crimes will be accompanied by total impunity. This situation gives rise to a climate of sever fear in the country, including for journalists, lawyers, doctors and human rights defenders that encounter such cases, as speaking out concerning these killings also results in reprisals.
For example, Mr. Jahangir Alam Akash, a journalist and human rights defender in the northern city of Rajshahi, publicised a number of televised reports highlighting the details of “crossfire” killings along with the inconsistencies of such claims by the Rapid Action Battalion over the last few years. On October 23, 2007, officers of the Rapid Action Battalion led by Major Rashidul Hassan Rashed, illegally arrested him from his home. Mr. Akash was arbitrarily detained and tortured in a Rapid Action Battalion camp in Rajshahi. He was implicated in three fabricated charges of extortion under the Emergency Power Rules-2007, and detained in the Rajshahi Central Jail, despite a High Court Bench having granted him bail in the case. Mr. Akash, after having been released on bail, has to regularly appear before the Magistrate’s Court, Sessions Court and the High Court Division to seek extensions to his bail grants and continues to receive regular threats from members of the law-enforcement agencies and their allies. He has lost his employment and is being financially crippled by legal costs. Ironically, Major Rashidul Hassan Rashed has been serving in the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Ivory Coast since July 2008. Such an opportunity is treated as a prize in the Bangladeshi armed forces.
Given such experiences, which are examples of how the system works rather than aberrations, it is not surprising to find that persons have no faith in the justice system in Bangladesh. The authorities, however, claim that the lack of complaints means that there are no problems of illegal actions by the members of the law-enforcement agencies. Such “logic” is also used by the country’s representatives at the Human rights Council to deflect any criticism that may surface there.
The systematic protection of members of the authorities by the State has meant that not a single case of extra-judicial killing has yet been investigated by any competent authority, and therefore no prosecutions or punishments of the alleged perpetrators have taken place. Despite what the Constitution of Bangladesh states, in reality the authorities can and do get away with murder and function as if above the law. The ALRC recalls that Article 31 of the Constitution, reads:
“To enjoy the protection of the law, and to be treated in accordance with law, and only in accordance with law, is the inalienable right of every citizen, wherever he may be, and of every other person for the time being within Bangladesh, and in particular no action detrimental to the life, liberty, body, reputation or property of any person shall be taken except in accordance with law.”
However, the agencies that are responsible for such perpetrating over a thousand extra-judicial killings in the last four years and many more before, have been rewarded in various ways, notably the Rapid Action Battalion, which has received praise and awards, including the country’s Independence Day Award on March 23, 2006, for “outstanding performance in maintaining law and order.” In 2007, the government awarded 28 RAB officers with “Police Medals.” All of these officers have allegedly been involved in grave human rights abuses, including extra-judicial killings.
Such extra-judicial killings by the law-enforcement agencies have continued to take place after the current government took office on January 6, 2009, and can therefore not claim innocence concerning this grave problem. The new government must ensure that all such killings cease and that truly impartial and effective investigations are launched into these cases to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice and that victims’ families receive adequate reparation.
This will require a functioning and effective, independent judiciary at all levels, which remains highly elusive at present. The Supreme Court of Bangladesh, as the guardian and interpreter of the Constitution, must act to address this situation. The Supreme Court’s High Court Division has inherent power to deal with issue of fundamental rights, according to Section 561A of the Code of Criminal Procedure-1898, which reads:
” Nothing in this Code shall be deemed to limit or affect the inherent power of the High Court Division to make such orders as may be necessary to give effect to any order under this Code, or to prevent abuse of the process of any Court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice. ”
Moreover, Article 102 (1) of the Constitution of Bangladesh authorises the High Court Division to issue certain orders and directions:
” The High Court Division on the application of any person aggrieved, may give such directions or orders to any person or authority, including any person performing any function in connection with the affairs of the Republic, as may be appropriate for the enforcement of any the fundamental rights conferred by Part III of this Constitution.”
The government of Bangladesh continues to make utterances without substance before the international community. For example, a delegation of Bangladesh led by its Foreign Minister, Dr. Dipu Moni, made a typical speech during the Universal Periodic Review of the Bangladesh on February 3, 2009. The minister said that her country will bring the perpetrators to justice immediately; however, no details as to how this would be done were included, and no action has been witnessed since. The delegation did not mention what process will be applied to ensure justice aggrieved persons, and, given that the complaint mechanisms in place deny registration of complaints concerning serious human rights abuses by state actors, it remains clear that the government is only saying what it believes people want to hear during the UPR without actually having the intention to implement any of its promises.
The Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) urges the Human Rights Council to pay particular attention to the situation of Bangladesh, notably concerning the prevalence of extra-judicial killings there. The government of Bangladesh must invite the Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial and Summary Executions to visit the country without delay. A standing invitation to all mandates of the Special Procedures should also be issued.
The nation requires thorough reforms of its criminal justice system. Effective and unhindered complaint mechanisms must be put in place and independent investigations of any and all allegations of human rights violations must be conducted. There should be an independent, permanent and accountable prosecutorial authority that remains beyond politicisation. Bangladesh must also create a fully independent judiciary, to replace the vehicle of injustice that exists in its stead at present. Without such actions there can be no hope of an end to the country’s pervasive culture of impunity.
