The High Court on Wednesday asked the government to explain in ten days why it should not be directed to take punitive action against the persons responsible for lynching six students on suspicion of robbery on July 18 in Amin Bazaar.
The government and the police were also asked to explain why their inaction and failure to protect the six youths, studying in various reputable institutions in Dhaka, from mass beating should not be declared unlawful.
The court also asked the government to explain why it should not be directed to pay compensation to the families of the deceased and to the surviving victims.
The bench of Justice Farid Ahmed and Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif passed the order after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by Tajul Islam, secretary general of the National Forum for Protection of Human Right and a Supreme Court lawyer, challenging the government’s inaction during and after the horrendous event.
In response to the petitioner’s prayer to the court to issue a directive to the government to form a committee to inquire into the brutal and inhuman killings, the court said that it would pass an order in this regard next week after receiving the government’s answer.
The home affairs secretary, inspector general of the police, commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, superintendent of the police in Dhaka, and the officers-in-charge of the Savar and Ashulia thanas were made respondents in the writ petition.
The petitioner’ lawyer, M Badruddoza, told the court that every citizen has the constitutional right to move freely around the country, and in exercise of the right the young boys had visited Amin Bazaar.
‘It was the constitutional obligation of the state to protect the lives and the liberty of the victims, but it failed to discharge its duty,’ Badruddoza argued.
He also said that the inaction of the respondents to protect the lives of the six students was highly illegal, mala fide and not sustainable in law.
Families and friends of the victims said they had gone on an outing to Keblar Char when a mob attacked them, apparently mistaking them for robbers.
But villagers said that they had surrounded the youths while they were preparing to commit a robbery.
Al-Amin, a survivor of the mass beating who was taken into the custody of Savar police after treatment at Savar Upazila Health Complex, told reporters that they had gone to the village on an outing and smoked cannabis there for fun.
Businessman Abdul Malek of the village filed a robbery case with the Savar thana, and the police registered a murder case against 600 unnamed villagers in this connection.
Malek said that the villagers were guarding the area where one Anwar Hossain was robbed in his house on July 6.
-With New Age input
