NEWS:Warrants issued for arrest of four policemen

Staff Correspondent 

A Dhaka court on Wednesday issued warrants for arrest of four police officers, including former Ramna police officer-in-charge Mahbubur Rahman, in connection with torturing a Chhatra League leader in custody to force ‘false admission’ in the case of attempt on the life of Dhaka University teacher Humayun Azad in 2004.

Metropolitan magistrate Mehedi Hasan Talukder passed the order after hearing an investigation report on a complaint filed with the Dhaka chief metropolitan magistrate’s court on March 5, 2008 by Chhatra League leader Abu Abbas Bhuiyan accusing former state minister for home affairs Lutfozzaman Babar and the four policemen of torturing him in custody to force ‘false admission.’

The court also asked the serving Ramna police officer-in-charge Shibli Noman to report to the court on October 26 on the execution of the warrants against the former officer-in-charge Mahbub, now on suspension, subinspectors Rezaul Karim, now posted to the Pabna Kotwali station, and Naser Ali, posted to the Special Branch (Dhaka city), and sergeant Anwar Hossain, now posted to the Jatrabari police.

‘The four policemen have committed offences under Section 330, 331 and 34 of the penal code by physically torturing Abbas at the Ramana police station in the period between February 28, 2004 and March 3, 2004 in the name of extracting confession from him,’ said the investigation report filed on August 19 by CID inspector Ahsanuddin Chowdhury.

On February 27, 2004, unnamed assailants stabbed writer Humayun Azad with butcher’s knives in front of the Bangla Academy when he was returning home. Humayun survived the incident. He later died on August 11, 2004 when he was doing researches in Germany.

Detective Branch inspector Abul Kalam on June 14, 2008 submitted an investigation report on Abbas’s complaint saying it was ‘false’ as no incident of torturing had taken place.

Metropolitan magistrate Faisal Atiq bin Kader on July 23, 2009 ordered further inquiry of the complaint by a special superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department as Abbas’s lawyer had submitted a petition expressing ‘no confidence’ in the report. Shahanur Islam on behalf of the Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights represented Abbas during the hearing.

In his complaint, Abbas, the Chhatra League’s mass education affairs secretary, said the police had tortured him after his arrest at a rally at the Central Shaheed Minar on February 28, 2004, a day after the attack on Humayun took place.

In July, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee was shown arrested in the Humayun attack case as the Awami League-led government in October 2009 decided further investigation of the case. 

The Criminal Investigation Department on November 15, 2007 pressed charges against five JMB men, including the executed leaders Shaikh Abdur Rahman and his brother Abdur Rahman Sunny, in the Humayun attack case.

http://www.newagebd.com/2010/sep/23/front.html#8