Legal notice served on govt
A Supreme Court lawyer yesterday served a legal notice on the government asking it to take measures within 24 hours for stopping use of pepper spray on people.
Advocate Aklas Uddin Bhuiyan sent the notice to the home minister, secretary to the home ministry, inspector general of police, and the director general of Rapid Action Battalion.
In the notice, he mentioned that an article published in the Los Angeles Times had stated that 61 death incidents took place between 1990 and 1995 due to the use of pepper spray. According to US army, pepper spray can cause cancer and diseases to heart, lungs, blood circulation, nerve and brain.
The lawyer also said in the notice that if they [home minister and officials] did not take any initiative within 24 hours, he would move a writ petition with the High Court against them.
Talking to The Daily Star, Aklas said he had served the notice following some recent incidents in the country where the spray was used on people, particularly on the teachers demanding Monthly Payment Order. He considers the act as a violation of people’s basic and constitutional rights.
Home ministry sources said the government had imported the spray with a view to dispersing those who might resort to violence in the name of demonstrations.
However, law enforcers had been seen using pepper and teargas sprays indiscriminately on people at close contact raising serious human rights concern.
Police bought 4,000 pepper and teargas spray in the fiscal year 2010-2011, said a source in the police headquarters, adding that 2,000 of them were imported from China in 2010 at the rate of Tk 1,125 while the rest from the USA in 2011 at Tk 1,295 per canister.
According to physicians and Wikipedia, direct exposure to pepper gas spray can kill people suffering from asthma, or those who are on medication and subject to restraining techniques that restrict the breathing passages.
Eye Specialist Sharmina Alauddin of Square Hospital Ltd in the capital said, “If a person gets extensively exposed to the gas for a longer time, his/her eyes may get damaged or the person may even die.”
Asked whether the sprays were bought upon the decision of the government’s policymakers, Home Secretary CQK Mustaq Ahmed yesterday said, “These were procured only to modernise the force. It is not a big deal to be discussed at the policymaking level.”
The sprays were considered as alternative to opening fire and means of minimising casualties, he said.
Asked why the sprays were being used to contain democratic movements, the home secretary said it is only to save people’s lives and their property. Many countries use these.
“However, we will be more careful so that law enforcers do not abuse or misuse the sprays,” he added.
Rights activists, meanwhile, termed the use of pepper and teargas sprays violation of law and norms of democracy.
Adilur Rahman Khan, secretary of rights organisation Odhikar, said, “We have seen Israeli soldiers use pepper gas spray on Palestinians. A democratic government cannot allow its law enforcers to use such sprays, as these are chemical weapons.”
He urged the government to form a probe committee to investigate the death of a teacher.
Hameeda Hossain, chairperson of rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra, said police should not use any technique or weapon that is harmful to health. “It is a matter of regret that law enforcers used the sprays on teachers first.”
The rights organisation also urged the government to keep from using such sprays.
In a joint statement, the Communist Party of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal also protested against the use of pepper sprays.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
