Savar police didn’t even bother to take victims to hospital after Aminbazar mob beating
Law enforcers did not care to send the seven injured students to a hospital even seven hours after they were brutally beaten by a mob on Shab-e-Barat night on July 18 at Aminbazar, a police probe found in its enquiry.
“Police should have rushed the victims to a hospital. Instead, they took Al Amin to Savar Police Station around 2:30am as an arrestee, leaving six of his friends lying on a field at Keblarchar at the mercy of furious residents of Bardeshi village,” said a member of the four-man probe committee.
Had the injured been rushed to the hospital timely, they might have survived, he observed.
The mob attacked them around 1:30am and police finally sent the six bodies to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue around 10:ooam.
Tipu Sultan of Tejgaon College, Towhidur Rahman Palash, Kamruzzaman Kanto and Ibrahim Khalil of Mirpur Bangla College, Shams Rahim Shamam of Maple Leaf International School and Sitaf Jabi Munif of Bangladesh University of Business and Technology died on the spot.
The lone survivor of the seven, Al Amin was hospitalised in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, the authorities yesterday closed Mahbubur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Savar Police Station, to the office of superintendent of police of Dhaka district. Sub-inspectors Hares Shikder and Anowar Hossain were also suspended.
The two SIs were closed on September 10 along with six constables, three days after a judicial probe committee in its enquiry disclosed that the victims were innocent and blamed their death to the negligence in police duties.
The eight cops reached the spot while on patrol duty that night.
Dhaka district SP Mizanur Rahman said the action was taken following the recommendation of the police probe body. After a two-month enquiry, the committee submitted its report to the police headquarters on Sunday.
A departmental case has also been filed against OC Mahbub and the eight cops for taking further action against them, added the SP.
The OC said he was closed for his alleged failure to maintain law and order in Aminbazar and Bardeshi village. He claimed himself to be a victim of the situation emerged after the death of the students.
According to the police probe report, several recent robbery incidents in the area made the locals furious.
“Although a case was filed earlier for robbery at a house in Bardeshi village, the OC failed to take proper action. This angered the villagers against robbers and ultimately resulted in the death of six students,” said a member of the investigation committee.
The probe did not find any proof of robbery there that night, although local sand trader Abdul Malek filed a robbery case with Savar police, he mentioned.
Malek claimed the six dead were robbers and four of them extorted Tk 5,000 from him earlier that night.
Al Amin, an accused in the case, is on bail.
The law enforcers filed a murder case against about 600 unidentified villagers.
Criminal Investigation Department is now investigating both the cases.
-With The Daily Star input
