Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the Khulna police have killed a man in a so-called ‘encounter’. The victim was known as a freedom-fighter for his role in the Bangladesh liberation from Pakistan, but no investigations have been made into his death after he was illegally arrested and detained. Relatives were not allowed near his body before his cremation, which was carried out by police and local officials under the guise of giving him state honours.
CASE DETAILS:
Mr. Nirapad Boiragi, a 58-year-old tailor, fought in the liberation war of 1971 and used to work as a dressmaker under the Dakope police station in Khulna. According to statements and documents from his family, Boiragi was summoned to his local police station on 7 October 2009, where he was arrested without a warrant and detained illegally. His relatives were denied access to him or the police in charge of him, but sources inside the station told that that he had been tortured.
After one nights detention the district police allegedly took Boiragi to the office of the Superintendent of Police (SP) in Khulna city, but his family was unable to locate him at the time; they were therefore not able to arrange a lawyer for him. Early on 9 October they were told that he had been killed in ‘crossfire’ with the Dumuria police in their district (photo of the body click here. Warning: graphic image).
The Dumuria Officer-in-Charge (OC), Mr. Md. Fauzul Kabir has since claimed that Boiragi had been arrested during a meeting of an ultra-leftist underground group, called the ‘New Biplobi (Rebel) Communist Party’. According to the official report, the victim and around 15 to 20 others were caught holding a meeting on the bank of the river Bhodra. The police allegedly returned gun fire and Boiragi was hit and succumbed his wounds at Dumuria Hospital.
Boiragi’s wife Ms. Kalpana Boiragi disputes this. She has also told the Asian Human Rights Commission that when she and her son Amit went to the Dumuria hospital after hearing of his death, they were kept at a distance from the body. They describe it lying on the floor in a thick pool of blood with signs of bullet wounds in his chest, throat, lower abdomen and back, but were prevented from attending to the body, as is customary. Instead, after preparing an inquest report and arranging a post mortem at Khulna Medical College Hospital, the police monopolised the cremation process. Even though the body was taken to the family’s house for an hour on 9 October at 9pm, they report that no one was allowed to see or touch the body. At 10pm Boiragi was cremated at the local funeral yard in the presence of the Upazilla Nirbahi Officer (the administrative head of a sub-district) Mr. Sakhawat Hossain and the OC of the Dumuria police Mr. Md. Fauzul Kabir, along with a large number of police officers. State honour was paid with a salute, but without a bugle call, as is often custom in the case of former liberation fighters.
According to his family, Boiragi had been arbitrarily arrested three times in the past, and had charges fabricated against him by police; his son alleges that officers have urged the family to not look further into his death. His wife considered the state tribute ‘extremely ridiculous’, remarking to the AHRC that: ‘Nirapads achievement was his extrajudicial death at the hands of law-enforcers in the same state for which he fought four decades ago. The Bangladeshi police were able to do something that even Pakistani soldiers couldn’t do in the war put an end to the life of my husband. Justice is an unthinkable matter in this country’.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the officials listed below, calling for them to investigate the suspicious death of Nirapad Boiragi while in the custody of the Khulna police. Please also ask the authorities to arrange adequate compensation for the victim’s family.
The Asian Human Rights Commission has already written a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial and Summery Execution urging his intervention into this case.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear __________,
BANGLADESH: A former liberation fighter gets state honours at his funeral, but no investigation into his murder in custody
Name of the victim:
1. Mr. Nirapad Boiragi, 58; son of late Mr. Sonnasi Boiragi, formerly a tailor in a shop owned by Mr. Peter at Chalna Bazar; resident of Sajiara village, under the Dumuria police station, Khulna
Perpetrators of the alleged extrajudicial killing:
1. Mr. Md. Fauzul Kabir, Inspector of Police and Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the Dumuria police station, Khulna
2. Other officers attached to the Dumuria police, Khulna
3. Officers attached to Kakope police station, Khulna
4. Officers of the Khulna district police
Date of incident: 9 October, 2009
Place of incident: On the bank of Bhadra River, beside Dumuria Bazar, in an area under the Dumuria police station, Khulna
I am extremely disturbed to hear of the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Nirapad Boiragi after he was taken into the custody of the Khulna police. No investigations have reportedly been made into his death, which has been labeled an encounter killing by police.
According to statements and documents from his family, Mr. Boiragi was summoned to his local police station on 7 October 2009, where he was arrested without a warrant and detained illegally. His relatives were denied access to him. After one nights detention the district police allegedly took Mr. Boiragi to the office of the Superintendent of Police (SP) in Khulna city, but I am told that his family was unable to locate him at the time; they were therefore not able to arrange a lawyer for him or monitor his condition. Early on 9 October they were told that he had been killed in ‘crossfire’ with the Dumuria police.
The Dumuria Officer-in-Charge (OC), Mr. Md. Fauzul Kabir has since claimed that Mr. Boiragi had been arrested and shot during a meeting of a leftist underground group, the ‘New Biplobi (Rebel) Communist Party’. According to the official report, the victim and around 15 to 20 others were caught holding a meeting on the bank of the river Bhodra. The police allegedly returned gun fire and Boiragi was hit and succumbed to his wounds at Dumuria Hospital.
However Mr. Boiragi’s wife, Ms. Kalpana Boiragi, strongly disputes this and has reported that she and her relatives were not allowed to touch or see the body, except at a distance. This includes at Dumuria Hospital, at the family’s own residence for one hour during which time the body had police escorts and at the local funeral yard on 9 October in the evening, when police monopolized the cremation process.
I am told that Mr. Boiragi was cremated in the presence of the Upazilla Nirbahi Officer (the administrative head of a sub-district) Mr. Sakhawat Hossain and the OC of the Dumuria police Mr. Md. Fauzul Kabir, along with a large number of police officers and that, ironically, he received a state tribute as a former liberation fighter.
I call for an immediate investigation into the illegal arrest and killing of Nirapad Boiragi while in the custody of the Khulna police. Adequate compensation must be arranged for the victim’s family.
Yours sincerely,
—————
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. Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG)
Khulna Range
Office of the DIG of Khulna Range
Khulna
BANGLADESH
Fax: +880 41 761300
Tel: +880 41 761823
E-mail: digkhulna@police.gov.bd
Thank you.
Urgent Appeal Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
