Md Abdul Kadar, a student of Dhaka University, was produced before a High Court bench in a wheel chair on July 28, as he could hardly move as a result ofbeing tortured while in police custody. In the court, Kadar described the inhuman treatment he received while incustody, violatinghishumanrights.

Like this incident, violations of human rights in police custody have become regular occurrences in the country, ignoring a High Court judgment given eight years ago. Constitutional and the international covenants formulated to safeguard and protect human rights are ignored.

Undersection167of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), police can take an accused person underits custodyfor questioning. Laws are ignored as the detained person becomes a victim of physical and mental torture. Many die unable to cope with the torture.

Ain O Shalish Kendra (ASK), an organization defending human rights, recorded that 68 persons died while in jail in 2008, 58 persons in 2009 and 20 others in 2010.

According to Odhikar, another organisation defending human rights, 852 persons died allegedly at the hands of law enforcers from January 2004 to May, 2010. Of them, 420 persons died while in police custody and 364 others under Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) custody. They died in different ways including crossfire, encounters and police station custody, said Odhikar reports.

It also recorded 84 deaths in custody in the first six months of this year. Of them,

61persons died in jail. A sick18-month old child was also kept with them other in

prison, where it died within12 days due to lack of treatment. Nine persons were allegedly tortured to death by police during the period, Odhikar report said.

To stop any torture and other degrading treatment in police custody, the High Court in a judgment on April 7, 2003 gave a 15 point direction, ordering the building of glass partitioned rooms in jails for interrogation of the detained persons in presence of their relatives and lawyers. Until such rooms are constructed, the arrested were to be interrogated at jail gates, said the judgment.

The High Court bench comprising Justice Md. Hamidul Haque and Justice Salma Masud Chowdhury delivered the land mark judgment following a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) and others.

Advocate Md Idrisur Rahman, one of the lawyers for the petitioners in the case, said later that the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) directed the government to carry out the 15-point directions literally when the government filed an appeal against the High Court judgment.

“Unfortunately, all directions of the High Court have been ignored for the last eight years, depriving the people from enjoying justice ensured by the higher court and leaving room for the police to torture people in custody,” said Idrisur Rahman.

Until now, the authorities haven’t made any glass-walled rooms in jail for

interrogation, sources said, adding that the lawyers and relatives were not normally allowed to stay during interrogation of the accused persons.

“Police was abusing section167of Cr PC at will,” Idrisur said. Firstly the magistrates violated the HC directions in delivering remand-related orders, he said and stressed on a joint effort by the government, law enforcers and judges for ensuring the directions are enforced in the interest of the people.

He said statistics of the custodial deaths occurred during1972 to1998 were placed before the HC in convincing it to deliver the land mark judgment. But no

successive governments have taken any effective measure to implement the directions, he said in frustration.

Torture in police custody is a violation of not only the HC directions but also the human rights preserved in Article 35 of the country’s constitution and some international covenants, which the government ratified and are obliged to follow.