BANGLADESH: Police gouge eyes of a man in custody

Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Khalishpur police of the Khulna Metropolitan city has gouged eyes of a detainee for failing to pay bribe. The victim, Mr. Mohammad Shah Jalal (Jibon). The Khalishpur police arrested him from the street near Boalkhali of the Khulna city when he went out to buy milk powder for his child at 6:00 PM in the evening of 18 July 2017. The police demanded BDT 150,000.00 (One Hundred Fifty Thousand Bangladesh Taka) of bribe, which Shah Jamal’s family could not afford paying. At around 11:30 PM, the police allegedly took him out of the police station. They gouged Jamal’s both eyes by the side of Khulna Bishsho Road. After midnight the police sent Jamal to the Khulna Medical College Hospital while he was seriously bleeding from his eyes. He is currently receiving treatment at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital under the police custody. He is under serious risk of losing his vision in both eyes. Please insist the Bangladesh Government to ensure all necessary treatment for Shah Jalal so that he gets back his vision.

CASE NARRATIVE:

Mr. Shah Jalal (Jibon), aged 28 years, a resident of Kawkhali police station in Pirojpur district, a vegetable vendor in his home town Kawkhali, is vendor seasonal vegetarian goods.

According to Shah Jalal’s wife Mrs. Rahela Begum, Shah Jalal came to his mother-in-law’s house at Nayabati Railbosti under the jurisdiction of Khalishpur police station in the Khulna Metropolitan City on 14 July2017 from Kawkhali for taking the wife and 10-months-old daughter home. On 18 July, at 6:00 PM, Shah Jalal went out of his mother-in-law’s house with 1000.00 Taka in cash for buying milk powder for his daughter. As soon as he reached the Goalkhali Bazar area of Khalishpur, the police picked him up in a van. The police detained Shah Jalal in a cell of the Khalishpur police station.

Mrs. Rahel Begum told the Asian Human Rights Commission that she heard the news of her husband’s arrest by the police, she rushed to the Khalishpur police station. Rahela saw her Shah Jalal in the police cell having small injuries in his elbow and legs that were due to torture in custody, according to her husband while in detention. Rahel’s family served food to Shah Jalal in police cell by paying bribes.

The police demanded BDT 150,000.00 (One Hundred Fifty Thousand Taka, which is equivalent to USD 1860) as bribe. Rahela’s family, who live in a railway slum, expressed their inability to pay such huge amount of money. Rahela assured the police officers that her family could at best pay BDT 20,000 (Twenty Thousand Taka – equivalent to USD 247). The police officers got angry with her. At around 11:30PM, the police told that they were taking Shah Jamal to Khulna Medical College Hospital for treatment for the injuries her husband had due to torture in custody. The police asked Rahela to wait at the police station. Eight policemen in plain cloths put Shah Jalal on a police van driven by a driver wearing police uniform. After few hours’ waiting Rahela went home when the on duty police suggested her to leave the police station.

On 19 July 2017, early in the morning she again went to the Khalishpur police station where her husband was available. She enquired with the on duty police officers, who did not disclose any information. Rahela bribed few hundred Taka to the on duty police officer seeking the whereabouts of her husband. Then, an officer told her to go to the Khulna Medical College Hospital to find Shah Jalal.

At Khulna Medical College Hospital Rahela explored Shah Jalal bleeding from both of his eyes. He was laying on the floor. In response to Rahela’s queries, Shah Jalal told her that the police tied up his legs and blindfolded his eyes in the previous night. The police van drove for about two hours around the streets of the city. At around 2:00 AM (on 19 July early hours), the police took him to the side of Khulna Bishsho Road. There, the police put metallic rod – sort of screw driver – into both of Shah Jalal’s eyes and gouged the eyes(WARNING! This picture has graphic content which can shock, offend and upset, please open only if you are sure you want to see, and only if you are over 18 years of age – GPRAPHIC PICTURE). Later, the police left Shah Jalal at the hospital and falsely claimed that mob gouged his eyes for hijacking.

According to Rahela Begum, the Khalishpur police had fabricated a snatching case against Shah Jalal. The Khulna Medical College Hospital doctors had referred her husband to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. Shah Jalal is handcuffed and escorted by the police at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The police are refusing Rahela’s access to Shah Jalal unless bribes are paid. “We are poor. We cannot manage food for ourselves unless my husband gets chance to open his shop. My infant daughter is starving without milk powder staying with my mother in Khulna. I am in Dhaka without any place to stay or any food to eat. My husband is starving. I do not know why the police did this to us?”

Rahela told that pus is coming out from her husband’s eyes. She has no idea about the treatment as she is not getting access to the doctors or her husband. She is worried about her husband’s life and seeking urgent help for emergency treatment for Shah Jamal’s eyes.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the Bangladeshi authorities requesting them to form a judicial commission with full mandate to probe this case. The excessive use of police power against unarmed protestors must be investigated and the officers involved must be prosecuted.

The AHRC has already submitted a communication to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment calling for their intervention in this matter.

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