There are two expressions the use of which brings about abject fear among all sectors of society in Bangladesh. These terms are, cross-fire and Rapid Action Battalion. While the government use cross-fire to mean gun fights between any section of the armed forces and civilians, such as criminal gangs and terrorists, the popular meaning of the term is persons being killed by the armed forces extra judicially with the justification being given as ‘an unavoidable death by cross-fire’. Like the term encounter killings used elsewhere, cross-fire is a term that people refer to tongue in cheek. The sinister connotation associated with the word demonstrates the utter powerlessness of the general population of Bangladesh in the face of the extra judicial killings that are taking place around them, of which people feel anyone could a victim. As one senior lawyer expressed, cross-fire is becoming a form of mental torture, One is living with the fear all the time that he or she can be the next victim of cross-fire.
The other term, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), refers to a military who have been increasingly associated with cross-fire incidents across the country. This RAB, introduced after the Clean Heart operation, which caused the extra judicial killings of hundreds of persons including forty in police custody, is generating enormous fear within the country. The Clean Heart operation came under severe local and international criticism and was withdrawn. The RAB, however, has taken its place and is engaged in the same function of instilling fear in the population, albeit in a different manner. This Battalions legal function is merely to assist the police in arresting, detaining and handing over persons whom the police have difficulty in arresting. However, their actual functioning is very different and they operate as an independent unit operating above the law.
This is happening in a country where there is already little faith in the normal policing system. The popular view of the police is that they either use crime investigations to make money for themselves or they conduct illegal services on behalf of politicians. That the police demand money from complainants, accept money from alleged perpetrators and take money from third parties, is a common belief shared at all levels of society. Whether it be the ordinary man in the street or lawyers, doctors or journalists, all state the same view on the policing system. In order to raise money police use torture as an instrument. To escape torture people have to pay. Those who are unable to pay are not only tortured, but later, cases are fabricated against them.
Along with this tragic situation they face, Bangladesh citizens have no legal mechanism through which they can make their complaints. If they complain to the higher authorities within the police, the matter is not usually investigated unless there is some form of public pressure to do so. Even when there is public pressure, all that is done is to release a person who is falsely charged, stop a person who is being tortured or not object to bail being given to a citizen who is in remand on the basis of false police reports. A system of disciplinary inquiries barely exists. Under public pressure sometimes an errant officer, particularly of lower rank, may be transferred to another area. That is more or less where the disciplinary process ends. There is also the public view that when there are complaints regarding junior officers, some senior officers use the occasion to obtain money from the juniors. There are no complaint avenues outside the police; for example there is no National Human Rights Commission. This is despite the two major political parties having spoken about such a commission, received assistance form international agencies regarding it and even having drafted a law concerning it. Evidently, despite an almost unanimous public opinion to change the present state of policing, some that hold powerful positions within the country are unwilling or unable to bring about such a change.
Although Bangladesh has ratified the Crimes against Torture Convention (CAT), as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and thereby obtained some international respectability, the state has done nothing to bring about local legislation in terms of their international obligations to eliminate torture. In other words, torture has not been made a crime in Bangladesh. In neighbouring Sri Lanka ratification of the CAT was followed by a local legislation, which imposed a seven-year mandatory sentence on anyone who is found guilty of the offense of torture. In Hong Kong torture carries the punishment of life imprisonment. In Bangladesh, however, torture is treated only as physical assault. Furthermore, while police in Bangladesh are under obligation to investigate cases of torture in the country, there is no procedure to do so when the perpetrator is the police themselves. Because of this, and due to the general situation of policing in the country, people are too afraid of the repercussions in pursuing a complaint of torture, particularly when it involves the police.
While ratifying the CAT the government has reserved Article 14 of the convention, which stipulates that the state party shall ensure in its legal system that the victim of an act of torture obtains redress and has an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation including means of full rehabilitation as possible. In the event of the death of the victim as a result of an act of torture his dependents shall be entitled to compensation.
The state party of Bangladesh has kept themselves outside the jurisdiction of the CAT by entering reservation on this right. This means the government of Bangladesh does not accept the legal responsibility to provide compensation to the victim or their families for torture or to provide for rehabilitation to torture victims. In failing to accept this obligation, which is one of the core elements of the CAT and all the legal doctrines associated with the elimination of torture, the government has virtually made article 13 (5) of the Bangladesh constitution that forbids torture a meaningless one. The government has obstructed this part to enforce the right contained in the constitution. This situation helps the errant police institution and all other battalions, like the RAB and many other task forces, operate above the law. Thus, impunity has been strongly endorsed.
Such is the institutional framework within which people live in Bangladesh. The boundaries of freedom are clearly demarcated and limited by the use of torture. This state of terror is not only a human rights issue, it is also a fundamental development problem. The widespread situation of loss of belief in rational behaviour is conditioned by the irrational that is allowed to exist within the law enforcement agencies. When money motivated or politically driven police officers interfere in the lives of people and institutions, it is not possible for successful ventures in development to take place. Fear kills all initiatives, including those for greater investment with clearly defined strategies to be developed and applied. All strategies are warped by the grand strategy of terror and corruption, which is the most important political and cultural factor of Bangladeshi life today. This situation also leads to an enormous ‘brain drain’ within the country. Qualified people who want to live free lives with their families and wish not to be involved in corruption find no prospects of prosperity in Bangladesh. Those who wish to be successful must learn to coincide with a corrupt police system, which in turn corrupts all other political and bureaucratic systems. A case of an industrialist who was implicated in a crime merely for the purpose of demanding one million Taka (nearly US $ 16,000) and was tortured when he refused to pay the money is a glaring example. Under torture and threat of being made a victim of cross-fire he agreed to pay 300,000 Taka (US $ 5000). For reducing the amount the threat of cross-fire was removed but he was charged with a fabricated charge for which he is still in remand.
The civil society of Bangladesh is unanimously opposed to the existing systems of policing, both by the normal political apparatus as well as other units such as the RAB. However, the two major political parties have not yet arrived at any serious assessment or strategy to overcome the problem. Instead anti-terrorist propaganda is being used to stifle any attempt to change the current situation. New units like the RAB are essentially used to reinforce terror among the population by use of extraordinary forms of violence such as extra judicial killings. Such conduct has come under the criticism of the Supreme Court itself. The Chief Justice Muhammad Habibor Rahman stated at a public meeting held in January 2005 we have belatedly decided to get a report on every death in cross-fire. We ought to have asked for a report when the first incidents of death occurred. That would make the law and order men more cautious. (Quoted in daily star January 19, 2005) Other leading figures have condemned the closing of all doors for inquiries by passing an indemnity bill with regards to extra judicial killings during the operation Clean Heart. The call for collective efforts or private entrepreneurs and civil society organisations to engage in assisting people distressed by this system is also very common.
The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the Bangladesh government to intervene in this matter and both major political parties to pledge for a complete overhaul of the policing system. We urge in particular that both parties agree to make torture a crime punishable with serious consequences in Bangladesh; to assign special investigating units functioning preferably under the direction of the Attorney General or other independent body; to speedily and efficiently investigate all complaints of extra judicial killings, torture and extortion of money; to establish a human rights commission; and to remove the reservation of article 14 of the CAT and accept the responsibility for payment of compensation and rehabilitation to victims and their families.
