Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) illegally arrested a lawyer named Mr. Mantu Ghosh detained him in a number of fabricated charges for 72 days. Mr. Ghosh is a central committee member of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and an advisor to the Garment Trade Union Center, an organization of the readymade garment factories of the country. The DMP allegedly fabricated 10 different cases, showed him arrested one after another while he was in detention and remanded him for 9 days on different occasions. He was bailed out on 11 October when the Metropolitan Sessions Court granted bail to him on special ground for his serious sickness in prison but he is afraid that he might be rearrested and harassed again by the law-enforcing agencies.
CASE NARRATIVE: (Based on interviews with the victim and lawyers and examination of relevant documents)
At around 1:15am on the morning on 31 July 2010, twelve persons knocked on the door of the house of Mr. Mantu Ghosh, a lawyer by profession and also a member of the central committee of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), at House No. 306/1 Notun Pal Para of the Narayanganj district town, around 25 kilometers far from the city of Dhaka. The members of the family, who were sleeping at that time, became scared of the unwanted knocking. However, following continuous knocks Mr. Mantu opened the door and saw around twelve plain clothed persons who were heavily armed. One of the twelve persons introduced himself as Sub Inspector (SI) Mr. Khondokar Mustafizur Rahman of the Gulshan police station and claimed that the rest others were from the Detective Branch (DB) Police. SI Mustafizur asked Mantu to go with the police by saying “We need to take you to the higher authorities.” The police raided his house without any warrant for search and seized his mobile phone at the same time.
The police took Mantu to the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of the DB of the DMP at 36 Minto Road of Ramna area in Dhaka at around 2am. They put Mantu in a detention cell and told him to sleep. The police did not explain why Mantu was brought to the police cell and whether he was arrested in any specific charge or not.
At 8am several police officers took Mantu to different rooms to interrogate him. The police mainly asked him about his personal involvements in the readymade garment factory workers’ movements for increasing wages, his travel records and relationship with neighboiuring countries – particularly with Indian – and his political party’s influence and position on the workers’ movement. By around 12 noon the police took him to the Chief Metropolitan Judicial Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka under a case, which was registered with the Gulshan police station of the DMP as FIR (First Information Report) No. 89 (7) 2010 under Sections 147, 148, 149, 380, 435,448, 353, 332, 427, 109 and 114 of the Penal Code-1860 and Section 3 and 6 of the Explosive Substance Act-1908. SI Mustafizur submitted a petition seeking 10 days police remand for Mantu while Mantu’s lawyer applied for bail. The Court granted 2 days remand under jail custody instead of police remand and rejected the petition for bail.
On the following day, another police station – Tejgaon Industrial Area police – submitted separate petitions seeking Mantu to be shown arrested under three different cases. The three cases were as follows:
1. FIR No. 36 (7) 2010 under Sections 4 and 5 of the Speedy Trial Act-2000;
2. FIR No. 37 (7) 2010 under Sections 4 and 5 of the Speedy Trial Act-2000; and
3. FIR No. 38 (7) 2010 under Sections 147, 186, 353, 323, and 427 of the Penal Code-1860.
The Courts granted all the petitions of the Tejgaon Industrial Area police to show Mantu under arrest in the above mentioned cases. In the first and second cases Mantu was sent to the police remand for 1 day each while in the third case he was sent in police remand for 3 days although the police sought for 7 days in each case.
On 3 August, Mantu Ghosh was also shown arrested by the Adabor police station of the DMP in two cases:
1. FIR No. 30, dated 30 July 2010, under Sections 147, 149, 427, 186, 353, 332, 427, 186 and 333 of the Penal Code-1860;
2. FIR No. 31, dated 30 July 2010, under Sections 4 and 5 of the Speedy Trial Act-2000.
The Adabor police took Mantu in remand for 3 days under FIR No. 30 and for 1 day under FIR No. 31 Several police officers other than the Investigating Officers (IO) of the cases of the Adabor Police interrogated Mantu while he was under police remand. The police officers accused him of association with some external players that might have had interests to destabilize the readymade garment sector of Bangladesh during the police remand.
Altogether Mantu was under police remand for 9 days in five different cases. The police allegedly treated Mantu inhumanly and degraded him in the name of interrogation while in police remand.
Following the arbitrary attitude of the police on 5 August Mantu lodged a Writ Petition (No. 6379/2010) with the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh challenging the actions of the police and fearing torture in custody. A High Court Division Bench comprising Justice A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice Sheikh Md. Zakir Hossain ordered the police not to torture in custody and provide all kinds of medical facilities during the period of police remand.
On 8 August, the Ashulia police station of Dhaka had shown Mantu arrested under the following pending cases that were registered in the month of June:
1. FIR No. 48 (6) 2010, under Sections 143, 149, 448, 323, 380, 427, 506, 109 and 114 of the Penal Code-1860;
2. FIR No. 52 (6) 2010, under Sections 143, 332, 333, 353,307,379 and 427 of the Penal Code-1860;
3. FIR No. 54 (6) 2010, under Sections 143, 448, 323, 325, 307, 436, 379, 380 and 427 of the Penal Code-1860; and
4. FIR No. 55 (6) 2010, under Sections 143, 332, 333, 353 and 427 of the Penal Code-1860.
On 23 August, the Gulshan police demanded to bring Mantu in police remand for the second time under FIR No. 89 (7) 2010 for 7 days. The Chief Metropolitan Judicial Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka, on 9 September, granted 3 days remand at jail for interrogation by rejecting the bail petition of Mantu’s lawyers for the second time. The same Court rejected Mantu’s bail petitions on four more occasions – on 19, 20, 26 and 29 September regarding the same case. At the time of refusing to grant bail the Magistrate did not explain the reasons of rejecting the petitions.
Regarding the three cases fabricated against Mantu by the Tejgaon Industrial Area police petitions seeking Mantu’s bail was rejected by the Court on 7 August. On 24 August, the Magistrate granted bail in two of the three cases, particularly in FIR No. 36 (7) 2010 and FIR No. 37 (7) 2010. In the third case – 38 (7) 2010 – of the Tejgaon Industrial Area police the Magistrate rejected Mantu’s bail petitions on three occasions – on 12 and 25 August and on 3 September. On the fourth occasion, on 9 September, the Court granted bail to Mantu.
Regarding the two cases fabricated by the Adabor police Mantu’s bail petitions were granted on 18 August. And regarding the four cases fabricated by the Ashulia police bails petitions were accepted on 22 August.
Mantu had been sick in jail while he was detained in the case fabricated by the Gulshan police. On 11 October, his lawyers submitted a “special bail petition” to the Metropolitan Sessions Court of Dhaka after having been rejected from the Chief Metropolitan Judicial Magistrate’s Court on the same day as a result of Mantu’s deteriorating health condition. The Metropolitan Sessions Judge granted bail on a bond of BDT 50,000.00 (USD 715) and Mantu was freed in the evening.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The Bangladesh Police have a bad reputation for fabricating cases against persons and harassing the detainees under “police remand”, which is synonymous to torture and extortion. The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has previously exposed the legal procedure regarding interrogating detainees under “police remand” (For further details, please see: AHRC-UAC-167-2010). In Bangladesh neither the police nor the Magistrates follow the laws and rules regarding arrest and “remand”, which has widened the paths for the police to seek remand for whomever or whichever days they want. It happens despite the fact that there are directives by the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh that a person can only be remanded for not more than three days in a case, if the police are unable to complete their investigation of a particular case within 24 hours on reasonable grounds that can be satisfactorily acceptable to the Magistrates.
In the matter of Mr. Mantu Ghosh four police stations of Dhaka have allegedly fabricated 10 criminal cases against Mantu and applied for bringing him in remand for 58 days though the Magistrates granted 9 days police remand and five days remand in jail. The deliberate negligence of the police to understand their capacity within the purview of the Constitution, which does not allow any agency to force any persons to give confession against himself or herself according to Article 35 (4), produces random petitions for “remand”.
The absence of judicial mindsets among most of the Magistrates and Judges of Bangladesh creates sufficient room for the police, who are by practice and training arbitrary, to abuse their power as there has been no mechanism established to hold the police accountable. And, the failures of Judicial Administration Training Institute of Bangladesh, which trains the Magistrates and Judges to enhance their professional capacity and skill, to teach the judicial officers about how and when to entertain a petition as a lawful “application for remand” deepens problems relating to the rule of law in the country.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the authorities below asking that they immediately intervene into the case and ensure that it is investigated by competent judicial officers. Those found to have been involved in the illegal arrest and subsequent fabrication of criminal charges must be prosecuted without delay. The victim must be afforded adequate compensation and protection from any further harassment and threats from law-enforcement agents.
Please note that the Asian Human Rights Commission has written separate letters to the UN Special Rapporteurs on Independent of Judges and Lawyers requesting his prompt interventions in this case.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
BANGLADESH: Police illegally arrest a lawyer cum politician and detain for months in fabricate charges
Name of victim: Mr. Mantu Ghosh, aged 60 years , a lawyer by profession and also a member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), at House No. 306/1 Notun Pal Para of the Narayanganj district town
Name of the alleged perpetrators:
1. Mr. Khondokar Mustafizur Rahman, Investigating Officer of a criminal case and Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Gulshan police station, Dhaka Metropolitan Police
2. Mr. Md. Kamal Uddin, Officer-in-Charge, Gulshan Police station,
3. Mr.Md. Obidul Huq, BP No: 6184010192, Assistant Police Commissioner, attached to Detective & Crime Information Department of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police
4. Mr.Md. Ziaur Rahman, BP No: 6790008809, Police Inspector, attached to Detective & Crime Information Department of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police
5. Eleven police personnel attached to the Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police
6. Mr. Moinul Islam Khan, Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Tejgoan Industrial Area police station
7. Mr. Shah Mohammed Ahad Hossain, Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Tejgoan Industrial Area police station
8. Mr. Md. Sayed Iftekhar Hossain, Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Tejgoan Industrial Area police station
9. Mr. Md. Homayon Kabir, Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Tejgoan Industrial Area police station
10. Mr. Md. Nazrul Islam, Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Tejgoan Industrial Area police station
11. Mr. Alamgir Hossain, Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Tejgoan Industrial Area police station
12. Mr. Bacchu Mia, Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Adbar police station
13. Mir Sabbir Ali Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Adbar police station
14. Mr. Md. Korban Ali, Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Ashulia police station
15. Mr. Mijanur Rahman, Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Ashulia police station
16. Mr. Mir Billal Hossain, Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Ashulia police station
17. Mr. Mijanur Rahman, Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Ashulia police station
18. Mr. Golam Mustafa, Sub Inspector of Police, attached to the Ashulia police station
All are attached to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police
Place of incident (illegal arrest): House No. 306/1 Notun Pal Para of the Narayanganj district town
Date of incident: 31 July 2010
I am raising my voice regarding the consecutive fabrication of criminal charges against a lawyer-cum-leftist politician Mr. Mantu Ghosh by various agencies of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and detaining him arbitrarily in prison for at least 72 days without sufficient evidence against him. I demand a thorough investigation into the allegation of harassing him through illegally arresting, detaining, fabricating charges one after another and remanding in police custody. I also demand immediate prosecution of the alleged police officers, if they are found guilty.
I have learned that at around 1:15am on 31 July 2010, twelve plain clothed police officers arrested Mr. Mantu Ghosh, a lawyer by profession and also a member of the central committee of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), from his house at 306/1 Notun Pal Para of the Narayanganj district town. The police team was led by Sub Inspector (SI) Mr. Khondokar Mustafizur Rahman of the Gulshan police station and claimed that the rest others were from the Detective Branch (DB) Police. At the time of arrest none of the police officers including SI Mustafizur showed any warrant for arrest against Mr. Mantu. The police asked Mantu to go with the police by saying “We need to take you to the higher authorities.” The police raided his house without any search warrant and allegedly seized his mobile phone at that time.
The police detained Mantu in a police cell of the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of the DB of the DMP at 36 Minto Road of Ramna area in Dhaka in that night.
At 8am several police officers took Mantu to different rooms to interrogate him. The police mainly asked him about his personal involvements in the readymade garment factory workers’ movements for increasing wage, his travel records and relationship with neighbouring countries – particularly with Indian – and his political party’s influence and position on the workers’ movement. By around 12 noon the police took him to the Chief Metropolitan Judicial Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka under a case, which was registered with the Gulshan police station of the DMP as FIR (First Information Report) No. 89 (7) 2010 under Sections 147, 148, 149, 380, 435,448, 353, 332, 427, 109 and 114 of the Penal Code-1860 and Section 3 and 6 of the Explosive Substance Act-1908. SI Mustafizur submitted a petition seeking 10 days police remand for Mantu while Mantu’s lawyer applied for bail. The Court granted 2 days remand under jail custody instead of police remand and rejected the petition for bail.
On 1 August, the Tejgaon Industrial Area police showed Mantu under arrest in three different cases. The three cases were as follows:
1. FIR No. 36 (7) 2010 under Sections 4 and 5 of the Speedy Trial Act-2000;
2. FIR No. 37 (7) 2010 under Sections 4 and 5 of the Speedy Trial Act-2000; and
3. FIR No. 38 (7) 2010 under Sections 147, 186, 353, 323, and 427 of the Penal Code-1860.
I have learned that the Courts granted 1 day police remand in the first and the second cases while Mantu was given in remand for 3 days in the third case although the police sought for 7 days in each case.
On 3 August, Mantu Ghosh was also shown arrested by the Adabor police station of the DMP in two cases:
1. FIR No. 30, dated 30 July 2010, under Sections 147, 149, 427, 186, 353, 332, 427, 186 and 333 of the Penal Code-1860;
2. FIR No. 31, dated 30 July 2010, under Sections 4 and 5 of the Speedy Trial Act-2000.
The Adabor police took Mantu in remand for 3 days under FIR No. 30 and for 1 day under FIR No. 31 Several police officers other than the Investigating Officers (IO) of the cases of the Adabor Police interrogated Mantu while he was under police remand. I am aware of the directives given by the High Court Division Bench of the Supreme Court, as published in DLR 55 – page 376, that no person other than the Investigation Officer (IO) of a particular case shall be entitled to interrogate an accused while in police remand, which has been clearly violated in this case. I have also heard that the police officers accused him of association with some external players that might have had interests to destabilize the readymade garment sector of Bangladesh during the police remand.
I am informed that altogether Mantu was under police remand for 9 days in five different cases. The police allegedly treated Mantu inhumanly and degraded him in the name of interrogation while in police remand.
I have received information that following the arbitrary attitude of the police Mantu lodged a Writ Petition (No. 6379/2010) on 5 August with the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh challenging the actions of the police and fearing torture in custody. A High Court Division Bench comprising Justice A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice Sheikh Md. Zakir Hossain ordered the police not to torture in custody and provide all kinds of medical facilities during the period of police remand.
I have also learned that on 8 August, the Ashulia police station of Dhaka had shown Mantu arrested under the following pending cases that were registered in the month of June:
1. FIR No. 48 (6) 2010, under Sections 143, 149, 448, 323, 380, 427, 506, 109 and 114 of the Penal Code-1860;
2. FIR No. 52 (6) 2010, under Sections 143, 332, 333, 353,307,379 and 427 of the Penal Code-1860;
3. FIR No. 54 (6) 2010, under Sections 143, 448, 323, 325, 307, 436, 379, 380 and 427 of the Penal Code-1860; and
4. FIR No. 55 (6) 2010, under Sections 143, 332, 333, 353 and 427 of the Penal Code-1860.
On 23 August, the Gulshan police demanded to bring Mantu in police remand for the second time under FIR No. 89 (7) 2010 for 7 days. The Chief Metropolitan Judicial Magistrate’s Court of Dhaka, on 9 September, granted 3 days remand at jail for interrogation by rejecting the bail petition of Mantu’s lawyers for the second time. I have been informed that the same Court rejected Mantu’s bail petitions on four more occasions – on 19, 20, 26 and 29 September regarding the same case. At the time of refusing to grant bail the Magistrate did not explain the reasons of rejecting the petitions.
I am surprised to learn that the Magistrates entertained all the petitions for remand written in plain paper by the police without a prescribed application on Bangladesh Police Form No. 90, as per Rule 458 (a), which should not be legally accepted as an application for remand at all.
I have heard that the three cases fabricated against Mantu by the Tejgaon Industrial Area police petitions seeking Mantu’s bail were also rejected by the Court on 7 August. Only on 24 August the Magistrate granted bail in two of the three cases, particularly in FIR No. 36 (7) 2010 and FIR No. 37 (7) 2010. In the third case – 38 (7) 2010 – of the Tejgaon Industrial Area police the Magistrate rejected Mantu’s bail petitions on three occasions – on 12 and 25 August and on 3 September. On the fourth occasion, on 9 September, the Court granted bail to Mantu.
I have also been informed that Mantu was bailed in the two cases fabricated by the Adabor police on 18 August and bails were granted in the four cases fabricated by the Ashulia police on 22 August.
Mantu had been sick in jail during his prolonged detention for more than two months and he was not released as he had not been bailed in the case fabricated by the Gulshan police. On 11 October, his lawyers submitted a “special bail petition” to the Metropolitan Sessions Court of Dhaka after having been rejected from the Chief Metropolitan Judicial Magistrate’s Court on the same day as a result of Mantu’s deteriorated health condition. The Metropolitan Sessions Judge granted bail on a bond of BDT 50,000.00 (USD 715) and Mantu was freed in the evening.
In the matter of Mr. Mantu Ghosh four police stations of Dhaka have allegedly fabricated 10 criminal cases against Mantu and applied for bringing him in remand for 58 days though the Magistrates granted 9 days police remand and five days remand in jail.
I am aware that the Bangladesh Police have a bad reputation for fabricating cases against persons and harassing the detainees under “police remand”, which is synonymous to torture and extortion. I have learned from the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), which has previously exposed the legal procedure regarding interrogating detainees under “police remand”. I know that both the police and the Magistrates disregard the laws and rules regarding arrest and “remand”, which has widened the paths for the police to seek remand for whomever or whichever days they want. It happens despite the fact that there are directives by the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh that a person can only the remanded for not more than three days in a case, if the police are unable to complete their investigation of a particular case within 24 hours on reasonable grounds that can be satisfactorily acceptable to the Magistrates.
I observe that the deliberate negligence of the police to understand their capacity within the purview of the Constitution, which does not allow any agency to force any persons to give confession against himself or herself according to Article 35 (4), produces random petitions for “remand”.
I also observe that the absence of judicial mindsets among most of the Magistrates and Judges of Bangladesh creates sufficient rooms for the police, who are by practice and training arbitrary, to abuse their power as there has been no mechanism established to hold the police accountable. And, the failures of Judicial Administration Training Institute of Bangladesh, which trains the Magistrates and Judges to enhance their professional capacity and skill, to teach the judicial officers about how and when to entertain a petition as a lawful “application for remand” deepens problems relating to the rule of law in the country.
I trust that you will take immediate action into this matter.
Yours sincerely,
—————
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS 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. A. B. M. Khairul Haque
Chief Justice
Supreme Court of Bangladesh
Supreme Court Building
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Fax: +880 2 956 5058 /+880 2 7161344
Tel: +880 2 956 2792
E-mail: chief@bdcom.com or supremec@bdcom.com
3. Barrister Shafique Ahmed
Minister
Ministry of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs
Bangladesh Secretariat
Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 7160627 (O)
Fax: +880 2 7168557 (O)
Email: info@minlaw.gov.bd
4. Ms. Sahara Khatun MP
Minister
Ministry of Home Affairs
Bangladesh Secretariat
Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 7169069 (O)
Fax: +880 2 7160405, 880 2 7164788 (O)
E-mail: 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. Prof. Mizanur Rahman
Chairman
National Human Rights Commission
6/3 Lalmatia, Block-D
Dhaka-1207
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 9137740
Fax: +880 2 9137743
E-mail: nhrc.bd@gmail.com
7. Mr. Hassan Mahmud Khandker
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 / +880 2 717 6451 / +880 2 717 6677
E-mail: ig@police.gov.bd
8. Mr. Benzir Ahmed
Commissioner
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP)
The DMP Headquarters
1, Shaheed Captain Monsur Ali Road
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +88-02-8322746 (O)
Fax: +88-02-8322746 (O)
E-mail: pcdmp@police.gov.bd
9. Mr. Asaduzzaman Mian
Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG)
Dhaka Range
Office of the DIG of Dhaka Range
Shegun Bagicha, Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 8353926 (O)
Fax: +880 2 8315838 (O)
E-mail: digdhaka@police.gov.bd
Thank you.
Urgent Appeal Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)
