Please - Odhikar

victim was made one of the accused. When police rescued both the brother and his wife from
Dhaka, her husband Shamsul was also there and police arrested him. During the arrest, relatives
of the girl severely beat Shamsul in front of police and brought him to Polashbari in a bad
condition. His condition deteriorated there and he was transferred to hospital where he died. She
further said that her husband did not suffer from any major disease and was the only earning
member of the family and his death has caused the family to fall in great uncertainty. She posed
the question whether the complainants of a case have a right to beat the defendant despite
availability of police, a legal system and court. Other relatives of the victim commented that
Shamsul was a gentle person and are of the opinion that police might have beaten him to death.
The local inhabitants were afraid of talking to Odhikar in fear of police action. Salam, Rafique
and Rahim of the same village informed Odhikar that Shamsul tried to solve the incident of the
marriage of his brother-in-law but alleged that police, after taking bribe from the other side, beat
him to death.
SI Niren of Polashbari Police Station informed Odhikar that the victim was arrested as an
unnamed accused in a case (number 25, dated 31/08/2005) of elopement filed on 30/08/2005 by
Abdul Hye, father of the girl Jannatul Khatun, under the Prevention of Repression against
Women and Children Act. After more than one month of filing of the case, the couple were
caught in Dhaka in the house of victim Shamsul Haque. They were brought to Polashbari Police
Station the same day and Shamsul Haque fell ill the next day when he was being taken to court.
He was taken to hospital for treatment where he died.
The physician who did the post mortem of the victim's body in the Rangpur Medical College
Hospital was on leave and could not be contacted. The physician under whose supervision the
victim was admitted told Odhikar that he did not find anything unusual while treating the victim.
The post-mortem report could actually show the reason for death. However, local villagers are of
the opinion that the victim became ill due to police torture and died subsequently. Police asserted
that the prime accused of the case was arrested and there was no reason to beat the unnamed
accused Shamsul Haque.
Death of an Accused Person in Police Custody in Dhaka
On 3 December 2005, there was a newspaper report on the death of a person in police custody in
Dhaka. Odhikar conducted a fact-finding of the incident and collected information from the wife
of the victim, police administration, hospital authorities and local inhabitants.
According to information collected, the victim Shafiuddin (35) used to carry out a small
business of collecting and selling garbage. On 3 November 2005, he joined Prince Plaza, a
shopping mall in Dhanmondi, in Dhaka as a security guard. Since 20 November 2005,
Shafiuddin stopped going to work. On 30 November, he did not return home. On 2 December
2005, some journalists and plain-clothes policemen informed his wife that he had died of cardiac
arrest. His wife immediately rushed to the Dhaka Medical Hospital and identified her husband's
body. Some plain-clothes policemen gave Taka 1000 to her with the advice to take the body
home. Accordingly, she brought her husband's body back home (house No. 55/4 Mohammadpur)
that evening. There were bruises on the body and the head was inflated. The victim's wife is of
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