Law enforcers asked to follow CrPC

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The High Court (HC) yesterday directed law enforcing agencies, with emphasis on Rapid Action Battalion, to follow the provisions in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in cases of arrests of citizens.

The direction followed a HC suo moto ruling issued against the government, police and Rab on July 27 asking them to explain in two weeks why they should not be directed to produce Kishore Kumar, whom Rab had arrested on July 19, before the court to prove that he was not being held unlawfully.

A High Court division bench issued the first ever suo moto by the HC against any Rab action following a report published in a Bangla daily, Janakantha, on July 24 under the headline ‘No whereabouts of the youth for four days after arrest by Rab in Jessore’.

After the issuance of the suo moto, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) President Advocate Manzil Murshid applied to the HC to be a plaintiff in the case and sent an enquiry team to Jessore on August 20 for field investigation.

During a hearing on the ruling yesterday, HRPB submitted its report about the arrest to the HC in the form of supplementary affidavit.

Submitting affidavit in opposition, Attorney General AJ Mohammad Ali told the court that Kishore Kumar was arrested at midnight on July 23 in connection with recovery of four bombs, the FIR (first information report) was lodged the same day and he was sent to the court the following day.

While moving for HRPB, Barister Amir-Ul Islam told the court yesterday, “Although there is a provision in the CrPC for producing a citizen before a court within 24 hours of an arrest, police and Rab personnel are not following it in many cases.” It is necessary for the courts to intervene in such illegal activities, he said.

After hearing submissions of both sides, the bench directed the law enforcers, specifically mentioning Rab, to follow the CrPC provisions in case of arrest of any citizen.

Advocates Manzil Murshid, Asaduzzaman Siddique and Barrister Shamsul Hasan assisted Barrister Amir-Ul Islam.

According to the Janakantha report, garage worker Kishore, 32, had been arrested by Rab and taken away from his house at Jail Road in Jessore town at 9:00pm on July 19 and since then his whereabouts was not known to his nearest relations.

Rab did not even admit to arresting Kishore. When his brother Dilip went to Rab office at Police Lines in Jessore on July 20 and 21, Rab personnel told him that they had not arrested anyone named Kishore, the Janakantha reported.

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