Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that police officers allowed a lawyer, her mother and domestic helper to be beaten by a group armed with sticks. The women and their family are being harassed by their neigbours over a land dispute, and a judge has already ruled for the status quo to be maintained until the civil trial is concluded. The lawyer, who is Christian, has had trouble filing a case of discrimination with the same police station in the past.
CASE DETAILS: (According to the victim and eyewitnesses)
When two families started to dispute the ownership of land between their two houses, the case was taken to civil court and the Third Assistant Judge’s Court of Dhaka ordered that the status quo should be maintained until the end of the trial (civil case No. 7102). However when the family of Mr. Kazi Babul Hossain started to build a wall on part of the land, the police were called in to settle further disputes on 9 October, 2009.
Instead of moderating the dispute, police officers asked Ms. Rita Kuntala Gomes, the other complainant, to meet the Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mr. Delwar Ahmed at Kafrul police station later that evening. When she arrived she did not meet with the OC, but was told that an FIR had been lodged by her neighbours against her and her family, including various elderly relatives, for the theft of a construction pillar. She also alleges that she was threatened with arrest by officers.
According to our information, on 10 October, approximately 200 women from a nearby slum community gathered outside the Hossains’ house, and under the alleged direction of Mrs. Samsunnahar Khanam Lipi, their neighbour, six of them started to beat Ms. Gomes, her mother and their domestic helper with sticks. When Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Mr. Mahbub and a few police constables arrived Ms. Gomes told them of the civil case pending and the ruling of the judge, but the officers reportedly left the scene after a few minutes. They offered no protection to the victims and tried to neither disperse nor arrest the attackers. We are told that the group later took control of part of the Gomes’ property and forced them to sign an undertaking.
On 11 October, Ms Gomes and her family members appeared before the Chief Metropolitan Judicial Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka on the theft charge, and were granted bail. They have since reported feeling increasingly insecure due to threats of eviction being delivered by neighbours and their associates. On 22 October at around 7:30pm, Ms Gomes heard gunshots next to her house, and though she lodged a General Diary (GD, no. 2030) with the Kafrul police, no officers arrived to investigate.
Ms. Gomes and her family are Christians and have suffered various kinds of discrimination in their predominantly Muslim neighbourhood. In 2008 policemen refused to allow her to lodge a complaint when a cross, a Christian symbol, was removed from their shared gate and discarded by her neighbour, and replaced with a Muslim sign proclaiming ‘Allahu Akbar’ (god is omnipotent). Police lodged it six months later, only after Ms. Gomes (a lawyer by profession) had lodged a petition with the Executive Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka (No. 1318 under Section 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure-1898).
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
This case demonstrates willful yet sadly characteristic police negligence. Officers have alarmingly chosen not to protect three women being attacked by a mob and have failed to observe a judicial order to remain impartial and maintain the status quo. Their conduct in the past refusing to help a Christian family with complaints about discrimination also suggests that prejudice is a motivating factor.
Bangladesh has an 87 per cent Muslim majority, and Christians and other religious minorities continue to face regular institutional discrimination, despite their right to equality being protected in the constitution: Article 27 states ‘All citizens are equal before the law and entitled to equal protection of the law’ and Article 28 (i) that ‘the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, cast, sex or place of birth’. However these sentiments have very little value when the penal code offers no frame work for punishment. This case also shows a clear need for checks and balances within the police force, to make sure that correct procedure is followed and to guard against discrimination.
Political influence is notoriously wielded by well connected persons in Bangladesh to gain the support of the police, as documented in many of our past appeals, including UAC-147-2009 and UAC-144-2009, and in our recent report in our human rights periodical, Article 2: Disconnected policing and the justice trade in Bangladesh (vol 8, no. 1 March 2009). In this case we have been informed that that Kazi Hossain’s younger brother Mr. Abu Hossain has capitalised on claims to being a member of Awami Jubo League, the youth wing of the ruling Bangladesh Awami League. Though the Awami League has declared that it promotes secularism and the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in Bangladesh, there has been no visible improvement in the protection of such rights, and cases of victimization continue to be linked back to party members.
It should also be noted that the victim in this case is a lawyer, with the legal knowledge she needs to try and circumnavigate unequal treatment from the police. Those who can only rely on law enforcers to help them access the justice mechanism regularly find themselves further victimised.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the officials listed below, calling for an investigation into the misconduct and negligence of the Kafrul police, including the allegations of religious discrimination, and for compensation to be arranged for the victims. Please also join us in calling for stronger implementation of anti-discrimination laws, and sweeping police reform in Bangladesh.
The Asian Human Rights Commission has written a separate letter to the UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues urging her intervention into this case.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear __________,
BANGLADESH: Police allow three women to be beaten by a mob during a land dispute
Name of victim:
1. Ms. Rita Kuntala Gomes; lawyer; daughter of Mr. Sunil Gomes; living at DCC 606/A North Kafrul under the Kafrul police station, Dhaka Metropolitan City.
Names of alleged negligent officials:
1. Mr. Delwar Ahamed Inspector of Police and Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Kafrul police station
2. Mr. Maniruzzaman, Sub Inspector of Police
3. Mr. Mohammad Emdadul Haq, Sub Inspector of Police
4. Mr. Faruk Ahmed, Sub Inspector of Police
5. Mr. Mahbub, Assistant Sub Inspector of Police,
All attached to the Kafrul Police Station under the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in Dhaka.
Date of the latest incident: 22 October 2009
Place of incident: Victim’s resdience in Dhaka
I am writing to express my concern over an incident in which police officers have allowed a lawyer, her mother and domestic helper to be beaten by a group armed with sticks. The women and their family are being harassed by their neigbours over a land dispute, and a judge has already ruled for the status quo to be maintained until the civil trial is concluded. I understand that the lawyer, who is Christian, has had trouble filing a case of discrimination with the same police station in the past.
According to the information I have received, two families started to dispute the ownership of land between their two houses and the case was taken to civil court. The Third Assistant Judge’s Court of Dhaka ordered that the status quo should be maintained until the end of the trial (civil case No. 7102). However when the family of Mr. Kazi Babul Hossain started to build a wall on part of the land, the police were called in to settle further disputes on 9 October, 2009.
Instead of moderating the dispute, police officers asked Ms. Rita Kuntala Gomes, the other complainant, to meet the Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mr. Delwar Ahmed at Kafrul police station later that evening. When she arrived she did not meet with the OC, but was told that an FIR had been lodged by her neighbours against her and her family, including various elderly relatives, for the theft of a construction pillar. She also alleges that she was threatened with arrest by officers.
According to the information reported, on 10 October, approximately 200 women from a nearby slum community gathered outside the Hossains’ house, and under the alleged direction of Mrs. Samsunnahar Khanam Lipi, their neighbour, six of them started to beat Ms. Gomes, her mother and their domestic helper with sticks. When Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Mr. Mahbub and a few police constables arrived Ms. Gomes told them of the civil case pending and the ruling of the judge, but the officers reportedly left the scene after a few minutes. They offered no protection to the victims and tried to neither disperse nor arrest the attackers. I am told that the group later took control of part of the Gomes’ property and forced them to sign an undertaking.
On 11 October, Ms Gomes and her family members appeared before the Chief Metropolitan Judicial Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka on the theft charge, and were granted bail. They have since reported feeling increasingly insecure due to threats of eviction being delivered by neighbours and their associates. On 22 October at around 7:30pm, Ms Gomes heard gunshots next to her house, and though she lodged a General Diary (GD, no. 2030) with the Kafrul police, no officers arrived to investigate.
Ms. Gomes and her family are Christians and have suffered various kinds of discrimination in their predominantly Muslim neighbourhood. In 2008 policemen refused to allow her to lodge a complaint when a cross was removed from their shared gate and discarded by her neighbour, and replaced with a Muslim sign proclaiming Allahu Akbar. Police lodged it six months later, only after Ms. Gomes had lodged a petition with the Executive Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka (No. 1318 under Section 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure-1898).
This case demonstrates willful yet sadly characteristic police negligence. Officers have alarmingly chosen not to protect three women being attacked by a mob and have failed to observe a judicial order to remain impartial and maintain the status quo. Their conduct in the past refusing to help a Christian family with complaints about discrimination also suggests that prejudice is a motivating factor.
Article 27 of the Bangladesh Constitution states ‘All citizens are equal before the law and entitled to equal protection of the law’ and Article 28 (i) that ‘the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, cast, sex or place of birth’, yet these sentiments have very little value when the penal code offers no frame work for punishment. There is an urgent need for discrimination to be criminalised in Bangladesh.
This case also shows a clear need for checks and balances within the police force, to make sure that correct procedure is followed and to guard against discrimination. Though the victim in this case is a lawyer, most people do not have the legal know how to circumnavigate unequal treatment by police.
I urge you to initiate a thorough and immediate investigation immediately into this matter. Police officers proven to have acted criminally or negligently must be disciplined and, if necessary, penalised. There is a clear need for authorities in Bangladesh to concentrate on rebuilding the trust of the ethnic minority groups in the country; the first step will be to ensure that acts of discrimination by the state and by the public can be effectively punished before the law.
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:
1. Mrs. Sheikh Hasina
Prime Minister
Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Office of the Prime Minister
Tejgaon, Dhaka
BANGLADESH
Fax: +880 2 811 3244 / 3243 / 1015 / 1490
Tel: +880 2 882 816 079 / 988 8677
E-mail: pm@pmo.gov.bd or ps1topm@pmo.gov.bd or psecy@pmo.gov.bd
2. Mr. M. M. Ruhul Amin
Chief Justice
Supreme Court of Bangladesh
Supreme Court Building
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Fax: +880 2 956 5058
Tel: +880 2 956 2792
3. Barrister Shafique Ahmed
Minister
Ministry of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs
Bangladesh Secretariat
Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 7160627
Fax: +880 2 7168557
E-mail: info@minlaw.gov.bd
4. Ms. Sahara Khatun MP
Minister
Ministry of Home Affairs
Bangladesh Secretariat
Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 7169069
Fax: +880 2 7160405, 880 2 7164788
Email: minister@mha.gov.bd
5. Mr. Mahbubey Alam
Attorney General of Bangladesh
Office of the Attorney General
Supreme Court Annex Building
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Fax: +880 2 956 1568
Tel: +880 2 956 2868
6. Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury
Chairman
National Human Rights Commission
6/3 Lalmatia, Block-D
Dhaka-1207
BANGLADESH
Telefax: +880 2 9137743
7. Mr. Nur Mohammad
Inspector General of Police (IGP)
Bangladesh Police
Police Headquarters’
Fulbaria, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Fax: +880 2 956 3362 / 956 3363
Tel: +880 2 956 2054 / 717 6451 / 717 6677
E-mail: ig@police.gov.bd
8. A K M Shahidul Hoque
Commissioner
Dhaka Metropolitan Police
DMP Headquarter
36, Shahid Captain Monsur Ali Road
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Fax: +880 2 8322746
Tel: +880 2 9331555 /88-02-8322746
Mobile: +8801711538313
E-mail: complain@dmp.gov.bd / emergency@dmp.gov.bd / commissioner@dmp.gov.bd
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Thank you.
Urgent Appeal Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
