Law enforcers should send details of victims to NHRC

The number of deaths in custody will come down to near zero if law enforcers submit pictures and papers of the deceased to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) immediately after their deaths, the commission chairman said yesterday.

"We are yet to realise how contemptuous and shameful the custodial deaths are for the state," Prof Mizanur Rahman told a discussion on the Torture and Custodial Death Prevention Act 2013. He said custodial deaths would continue to happen as long as politicians viewed extra-judicial killings as something acceptable.

"About 70 percent of the complaints of violation of human rights received by the NHRC are against law enforcers and about half of all complainants raise allegations of torture by law enforcers," he said. The NHRC will look into the complaints and submit its findings to the home ministry, he said. "We would like to see what action the ministry takes against them."

None of the law enforcement agencies sent representatives to the seminar, organised by the NHRC at The Daily Star Centre in the capital. "We repeatedly contacted high officials of both Rab [Rapid Action Battalion] and police and invited them to join the discussion," he regretted.

Prof Mizan recommended that the home ministry should stop custodial torture and deaths and ban arrests by law enforcers in plainclothes.

Director and legal adviser of Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust (BLAST) SM Rezaul Karim said the general people were not aware of the Torture and Custodial Death Prevention Act. "Even if they are, victims of torture often do not have the courage to sue law enforcers," he said, adding human rights groups should be allowed to file cases on the victims' behalf. He also pointed out that investigations into such cases would not be impartial, as police personnel would be investigating their colleagues' crimes