Please - Odhikar

Environment of the custody cell
Findings
A. General situation of Police Stations:
1. Mohammadpur Thana:
In Mohammadpur thana there are three separate custody rooms for arrestees. The size of the
custody rooms is small, with inadequate lighting. Water supply was unavailable and people in
custody were found buying water from outside vendors. Men, women and children were kept in
separate custody rooms. The lock-up was, allegedly, cleaned regularly. There were separate
toilets for male and female detainees - albeit in unsanitary condition. Food was allegedly
provided to the arrestee once a day, but monitoring found that sometimes this meal was also
missing. Relatives supplied other meals or the arrestee had to procure food from outside. The
custody rooms were found to be over crowded most of the time.
While monitoring the police station at one visit, 24 arrestees were found in a single custody
room. Though there was a separate cell for remanded detainees, they were kept in a jam-packed
custody with the other arrestees. No breakfast was served in the custody room and it was found
to be unclean.
Police’s behavior towards victims
Most of the time the complainants had to wait for more than an hour for filing cases or making a
general diary. Police were found addressing people abruptly and disrespectfully and their
behavior was quite insensitive. Police officials did not listen to victims attentively. In some
instances, the police were observed to be trying to exert pressure on victims indirectly for
money.
* Plaintiff, Fazlul Karim was found waiting for more than an hour to help police
to arrest the accused.
* For lodging a GD, complainants had to pay Tk 200/300 to the concern officials.
* For lodging a General Diary, a wireless operator was found taking Tk.100 from
the complainants.
On some days, it was observed that a small number of police officers attentively entertained the
complainants and victims within half an hour. Complaints were written and the grounds of the
filed cases were informed them clearly.
Police’s behavior towards accused persons
The accused were allowed to contact legal practitioners/lawyers according to their choice. It was
observed that family members could only see and talk to the arrested person after giving a bribe.
Most of the time police were found to be harsh in their behaviour towards the arrestee but they
informed them about the reason for the arrest. It was alleged that normal arrestees were not
tortured physically but torture in remand was common. No information of sexual harassment
was reported but attempts of undue influence to get money illegally was observed.
Report 2005
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