A number of human rights organisations will soon petition the High Court to compel the government to initiate proper investigation into incidents of extra-judicial killings in the names of “crossfire”, “encounter” and “gunfight”.
Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) and these organisations have already prepared the petition, in which they say some 1,070 incidents of extra-judicial killings have taken place in the country so far. But the government has not yet moved to investigate those.
The government has not even replied to an HC rule that asked it on June 29 to explain within four weeks why extra-judicial killings in “crossfire” and “encounters” should not be declared illegal, says the petition.
The HC rule came following a writ petition jointly filed by ASK, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) and Karmojibi Nari.
The court also asked the government to explain why departmental and punitive actions should not be taken against those responsible for such killings.
In their writ petition, the human rights bodies said at least 969 people were killed in custody or in incidents of crossfire or encounters with law enforcement agencies across the country since 2004 in violation of the law as well as the constitution.
During the hearing of the writ petition, counsels for the government told the HC that no instance of extra-judicial killing had taken place during the present government’s rule.
However, surveys by ASK and some other organisations have found that more than 100 people have been killed in crossfire or encounters or gunfights since that claim, petitioners’ lawyer barrister Saifur Rashid told The Daily Star on October 3.
He said an experts committee should be constituted to properly investigate these extra-judicial killings.
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