aminbazar - Dhaka Mirror

Humanity trampled

Admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:25:13 +0000

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

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OC closed, 2 SIs suspended following probe reports

Admin — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:23:49 +0000

The officer-in-charge of Savar police station was closed to Dhaka police line and two sub-inspectors, who were closed to the police line on September 11, were suspended on Monday as a police probe body found that the cops failed to discharge their duties properly during the Aminbazar incident in which six students were beaten to death on July 18.
The decision about the officer-in-charge, Mahbubur Rahman, and subinspectors — Anwar Hossain and Haris Shikder — was taken on the basis of the probe report submitted by the police inquiry committee on Sunday, said Dhaka additional police super Sheikh Rafiqul Islam, also the member-secretary of police investigation team.
‘We found them failing to discharge their duties in course of the brutallynching of the six students,’ Rafiqul Islam told New Age.
He said that departmental proceedings would also be drawn against the cops.
The four-member police inquiry committee, however, failed to identify the group of people who had killed the unarmed students, the committee member-secretary admitted.
The police investigation committee found that the cops stationed there failed to discharge their duties during the incident.
It also found that the victims were students, not robbers.
Earlier, a judicial committee also came up with similar findings.
The one-member judicial inquiry committee of
Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Utpal Chowdhury submitted the report to the Supreme Court registrar AKM Shamsul Islam on September 8.
In the report, the judicial probe body found that the six youths were innocent students, not robbers.
It also held the negligence of the policemen, who were on duty on the spot during the mob beating, including Savar police sub-inspectors Anwar Hossain and Haris Shikder, in rescuing the youths.
On September 11, police closed Anwar and Haris along with constables Habibur Rahman, Nazmul Hossain, Shohel Miah, Saidur Rahman, Shaheen Miah and Khairul Islam for their negligence in rescuing the victims.
Sitaf Jabi Munib, a student of Bangladesh University of Business and Technology, and Shams Rahim Shamam of Maple Leaf International School, Tipu Sultan of Tejgaon College, Towhidur Rahman Palash, Kamruzzaman Kanto and Ibrahim Khalil of Mirpur Bangla College were beaten to death by a group of people at Aminbazar in Savar early on July 18.
The lone survivor of the incident, Al Amin, told reporters that police had taken him to a hospital in Savar after he, being seriously injured in the beating, repeatedly requested them to save his life.
‘The policemen asked me to tell the media that we [the victims] went to Keblarchar to smoke cannabis at night,’ Al Amin had told New Age recently, adding that police were present during the beating and did not try to save the students.
After the incident, a local sand dealer, Abdul Malek, filed a case of robbery against the six victims and the lone survivor with Savar police station.
As Malek made different statements about the incident to different media after filing the case and the victims were identified by their respective families later on the day, Savar police filed a murder case against 500 to 600 unnamed villagers.
The police probe body and the judicial inquiry committee were formed following High Court orders issued on July 20 and August 3 respectively.

-With New Age input

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Victims were not robbers

Admin — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 04:24:59 +0000

Killing of 6 Students at Aminbazar
Victims were not robbers
Police probe echoes judicial investigation; proposes action against Savar police
A police enquiry yesterday concluded that the six students killed by a mob in Aminbazar in July were not robbers, 10 days after a judicial probe also found them innocent.
A four-member committee formed by the Police Headquarters to probe the incident submitted its report yesterday. It found no evidence that the victims were robbers.
The probe, on the contrary, found negligence of duty on the part of Savar police, Additional Inspector General of Police Amir Uddin, also the chief of the committee, told a press briefing at the police HQ.
“During our investigation, nobody said that the six students killed and the other injured were robbers. Nor did we find any evidence to prove that.
“We recommended departmental actions against some personnel of Savar Police Station for their negligence of duty,” Amir Uddin said.
A one-member judicial probe body that submitted its report on September 8 determined that some officers of Savar Police Station were “involved in the killings”.
Early hours on July 18, a mob at Bardeshi village in Aminbazar beat six boys, all school and college students, dead and another injured in police presence taking them for robbers, witnesses and the lone survivor said.
The dead are 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.
The next day, Abdul Malek, a sand trader of Aminbazar, filed a robbery case accusing the seven. On the same day, Savar police filed a murder case against 500 to 600 unnamed people of Bardeshi village.
Strangely, the police case too branded the victims as robbers. The case did not even mention that they were students although the police officer who filed the case talked to their parents and relatives and collected details before filing the case.
As the role of Savar police came under question, Inspector General of Police Hassan Mahmood Khandker formed the four-member committee on July 21.
The three other members are Masud Karim, special superintendent (SS) of Special Branch, Sheikh Rezaul Haider, SS of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and Dhaka district Additional Superintendent of Police Sheikh Rafiqul Islam.
The 216-page report was submitted to the police HQ following an impartial investigation, said Amir Uddin, the additional IGP.
“We’ve investigated the police role, not the crimes. The Criminal Investigation Department is investigating both the cases now,” he added.
He, however, declined to comment on whether any robbery took place in the area that night.
A top official of the police HQ told The Daily Star the probe found that the robbery case filed by the sand trader was false.
It was lodged to hide the actual fact and save those who led the killing as well as the policemen who played a part in it, he added.
Eight policemen of Savar Police Station were closed on September 11, three days after the judicial probe report was submitted.
“Not only those eight policemen who were present on the spot, many other policemen of Savar Police Station were involved in covering up the incident,” said the police official seeking anonymity.

-With The Daily Star input

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Eight cops closed for Aminbazar lynching

Admin — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:18:46 +0000

Eight police personnel, including two sub-inspectors of Savar police station were closed (withdrawn) on Sunday on charge of negligence of duties during the killing of six students at Keblarchar in Baradeshi village of Aminbazar dubbing them robbers in the early hours of July 18. The closed police personnel are identified as sub-inspectors Hariz Sikdar, Anowar Hossain, constables Khairul Islam, Saidur Rahman, Sohel Mia, Nazmul Hossain, Shahin Mia and Habibur Rahman.
Dhaka district police superintendent Mohammad Mizanur Rahman told The Independent,“The action was taken according to the probe report submitted by the four member’s probe committee of Bangladesh police Headquarters headed by Deputy Inspector General (DIG-Admin) of Police Mohammad Amir Uddin.”
Six students Tipu Sultan of Tejgaon College, Towhidur Rahman Palash, Kamruzzaman Kanto, 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 were beaten to death at Keblarchar in Baradeshi village of Aminbazar suspecting them as robbers on early July 18.
In response to a writ petition filed by the National Forum for Protection of Human Rights, the High Court on August 10 asked the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate to form a committee with a magistrate to investigate the tragic incident. The committee was asked to submit its report by one month.
The police Headquarters comprising by Deputy Inspector General (DIG-Admin) of Police Mohammad Amir Uddin, Mohammad Masud Karim, special superintendent (SS) of Special Branch, Sheikh Md Rezaul Haider, SS of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and Sheikh Rafiqul Islam Dhaka district Additional Superintendent of Police formed a four-member committee on July 21 to unfold the mystery behind the killing.
Utpal Chowdhury, a metropolitan magistrate, who conducted the investigation after submitting the report told The Independent, “I had earlier visited the spot and talked with the locals and relatives of the victim I didn’t found the students involvements in crime.” The judicial committee has found that police have negligence in discharging their duties to save the lives of six students who were beaten to death at Keblarchar of Aminbazar in Savar, near the capital.
The judicial committee, probing the lynching of six students at Baradeshi village in Aminabazar on July 18, concluded that they were killed by the local drug syndicate with the help of the police and not villagers as claimed earlier.
Riazul Karim, a villager, said: “The local drugs syndicate carried out the killings as it suspected that the students were informers of the Rapid Action Batallion (RAB). The incident took place just after the syndicate received a consignment. As it regularly pays money to the police, the law keepers helped the former in carrying out the killings.” He added that most villagers were at the mosque when the incident took place. He said a group of 15 to 20 people perpetrated the crime. “Members of the drug syndicate picked up the students from Keblarchar and lynched them before the villagers reached the spot. They even discussed the matter with the police who filed a false case by the notorious drug peddler Abdul Malek,” said Abdul Majid, a local trader.
Abdul Kader, alias Suruj, father of Kamruzzaman Kanto, one of the six students killed, said: “I have conducted an investigation after the death of my son. I found that local drug paddlers killed him, suspecting him to be an informer of RAB.” Habi Bepari, father of another victim, said: “I, along with Suruj Bhai, went to the spot several times to know what had actually happened. We came to know that local drug peddlers carried out the killings.”
Six students – Tipu Sultan of Tejgaon College, Towhidur Rahman Palash, Kamruzzaman Kanto, Ibrahim Khalil of Mirpur Bangla College, Shams Rahim Shamam of Maple Leaf International School and Sitaf Jabi Munif of the Bangladesh University of Business and Technology – were beaten to death at Keblarchar on July 18.

Courtesy of The Independent

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‘Threatened’ by probe body member

Admin — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 01:25:08 +0000

Complains lone survivor of Aminbazar mob beating
Al Amin, the lone survivor of last month’s mob beating at Aminbazar, yesterday alleged a government probe body member threatened him with torture taking him on remand.
For further enquiry, the committee took Amin from his Darussalam house yesterday around 10:00am to Keblarchar in Baradeshi village of Aminbazar where a mob of several hundred villagers beat him injured and his six friends dead on early July 18.
Amin, out on bail in a case filed with Savar Police Station for robbery, said, on the spot a committee member in plainclothes told him that his statement contradicts with the villagers’ versions.
“The investigator was frequently asking me to tell them the ‘truth’, otherwise my bail will be cancelled and I will be taken on remand,” said the 17-year-old.
“Your one hand is seen broken. We will break your other limbs and then you will tell us the truth,” he quoted the official as saying.
“They wanted to know details including how we went to Keblarchar [on the night of the incident], what we were doing and so on,” he added.
Abdul Kader, father of Kamruzzaman Kanto, one of the ill-fated six, also went there yesterday. He said he was shocked at the behaviour of the committee members.
“They were apparently trying to label my son and other dead as robbers. They were giving more priority to the villagers,” he told The Daily Star.
The committee seemed to believe the versions of villagers and police that the youths went to the spot on a trawler to commit robbery, he said. “If the allegation is true why don’t they check the mobile phone logs of the dead and the injured?”
Kanto’s cousin Mariam Sultana Mitu accompanied Kader to the place where his son breathed his last. She alleged a policeman, who was with the probe committee, called her “the sister of a dacoit”.
The police authorities formed the four-member committee on July 21 to probe the death of six students and police role in the incident. Soon after its formation, it went to Amin’s home for his statement.
The Daily Star made several phone calls and sent texts to the committee chief, Mohammad Amir Uddin, deputy inspector general (DIG-admin) of police, for comments. He did not respond.
Sirajul Haque, assistant superintended of police of CID and also the investigation officer of the case, said two sides — villagers and families of the victims — are causing a delay in the probe by giving contradictory accounts of what had happened in Aminbazar that night.
He, however, claimed the facts behind the incident will be unearthed soon.

Courtesy of The Daily Star

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Judicial probe body visits Aminbazar

Admin — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:19:37 +0000

Judicial probe body visits Aminbazar
The one member judicial committee, formed on Wednesday to probe the killing of six students at Aminbazar on the outskirts of the capital, visited the spot yesterday and talked to the locals.
During his visit at around 1:30pm, committee member Metropolitan Magistrate Utpal Chowdhury told the reporters that the committee would submit its report within 30 days fixed by the High Court.
In response to a writ petition filed by the National Forum for Protection of Human Rights, the HC on August 3 asked the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate to form a committee with a magistrate to investigate the tragic incident.
Six students were killed brutally by several hundred people at Keblar Char in Aminbazar during early hours of July 18.
The deceased students are 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.
Anwar Hossain, sub-inspector of Savar Police Station, filed a case accusing around five hundred unidentified villagers.
On July 28, the government ordered to include Aminbazar killing in the home ministry’s list of sensational cases.

-With The Daily Star input

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2 arrested

Admin — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 21:20:07 +0000

Students Killed by Mob
2 arrested
Police arrested two persons yesterday for their suspected link with the killing of six students in a mob attack on the city outskirt Aminbazar.
Sanwar Hossain, 28, and Mohammad Selim, 25 were shown arrested in a murder case after they were picked up from Aminbazar and Baradeshibazar, said Mahbubur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Savar Police Station.
He claimed the detained duo are drug peddlers.
But locals say Sanwar is the owner of a tea stall on Dhaka-Aricha highway while Selim is just a druggy.
During a visit, The Daily Star correspondent found Sanwar’s brother Zahir Hossain running the tea stall in his brother’s absence.
“Policemen had searched Sanwar’s house earlier but he was not there,” he said. “They later came to the shop around 5:00am [yesterday], when Sanwar was asleep, and picked him up.”
According to locals and police officers, around 300 law enforcers, including Rapid Action Battalion members, in 37 vehicles cordoned around Baradeshi village from 1:00am to 7:00am yesterday. They raided around 50 houses.
“Although people of different villages took part in the incident, now police are only raiding the houses of Baradeshi and also arresting its inhabitants,” said Mohammad Takiuddin, a villager.
OC Mahbubur Rahman, however, said they could catch only Sanwar and Selim as all other suspects are on the run.
A mob of several hundred villagers bludgeoned the six to death on Keblarchar of Baradeshi village early Monday on the Shab-e-Barat, suspecting them as robbers.
The law enforcers prepared a list of around 60 villagers who took part in the beating.
During the visit in the village in last three days, this correspondent found doors and windows of a large number of houses shut and locked. Very few people were seen.
Locals said most of the villagers of Baradeshi, mainly the males, went into hiding.
Meanwhile, several hundred students of Tejgaon College formed a human chain in front of the college around 11:00am yesterday demanding punishment to the killers of their fellow student Tipu Sultan, who was among the ill-fated six.
Of the other five, Towhidur Rahman Palash, Kamruzzaman Kanto and Ibrahim Khalil were of Mirpur Bangla College, Shams Rahim Shamam of Maple Leaf International School and Sitaf Jabi Munif was of Bangladesh University of Business and Technology.
Another youth, Al Amin, survived but suffered serious injuries.
Two cases were filed — one by local sand trader Abdul Malek and the other by police — following the incident.
In the case statement, Malek identifying the mob attack victims as robbers said four of the youths had extorted Tk 5,000 from him earlier on the Shab-e-Barat.
Sub-Inspector Anwar Hossain of Savar police filed the other case accusing five to six hundred unidentified villagers of killing the students.

-With The Daily Star input

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Police to probe now police case

Admin — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 09:43:15 +0000

6 Students Killed by Mob
Police to probe now police case
Police high-ups have no confidence in the case filed by Savar police regarding the killing of six students in Aminbazar on Monday, in which the victims are labelled as robbers.
The police headquarters hence formed a four-member committee yesterday to probe the matter.
“We have formed the committee sensing something fishy,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hassan Mahmood Khandker told The Daily Star yesterday.
On Monday, a mob killed six students on Monday, locals of Baradeshi village beat to death six students and left one severely injured on Keblarchar in Aminbazar suspecting the students to be robbers. The villagers swooped on them with sticks and sharp objects.
“Apart form unfolding the mystery behind the killings, the committee has also been asked to recommend the means of stopping such barbaric events from recurring,” said the IGP, adding that the committee will submit its report within 10 working days.
Headed by Deputy Inspector General (DIG-Admin) of Police Mohammad Amir Uddin, three other members of the committee are Md Masud Karim, special superintendent (SS) of Special Branch, Sheikh Md Rezaul Haider, SS of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and Dhaka district Additional Superintendent of Police Sheikh Rafiqul Islam.
The families of the victims have also rejected the police case saying that the law enforcers favoured the killers. They said they would file separate cases with police after Sunday and if police refuse to record their cases they will go to the court.
Meanwhile, Prof Mizanur Rahman, chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), yesterday termed the death of six students a cold-blooded murder.
“It was an extra judicial killing,” he said while addressing a programme in Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban of Dhaka University.
While the administration is calling it an isolated incident, Rahman believes that such incidents are occurring very often these days.
Following Monday’s incident, Abdul Malek, a sand trader, filed a case against the seven victims saying that locals beat them up after the students robbed his trading centre.
Later, a second case was filed by Sub-Inspector (SI) of Savar Police Station Anwar Hossain against 600 unnamed people.
Both the cases have a peculiar resemblance. The SI in his case statement branded all the seven victims as robbers as did the sand trader in his.
The SI did not mention the victims as students although he talked with their parents and relatives and collected their details before filing the case.
His statement reads, “I recovered six bodies of unidentified robbers and arrested another from the spot. I took their photographs and seized six sharp weapons and a cell phone found on the spot. I collected the details of all the deceased and the injured robbers and prepared their police inquest report.
“There is a delay in filing the case as I have been busy in collecting the details of the robbers and arranging treatment for the one who survived.”
Asked why Savar police branded the victims as robbers prior to any investigation and made the same statement as the sand trader, IGP Hassan Mahmood said, “The probe committee has been asked to carry out the investigation focusing on this specific issue.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of students and teachers of different educational institutions in Kalyanpur and Mirpur and the locals of the areas formed a human chain on Mirpur Road demanding exemplary punishment of the killers and immediate withdrawal of the robbery case filed against Al Amin, the lone survivor of the incident.
The demonstrators also demanded punitive measures against Savar police chief Mahbubur Rahman, arrest of culprits including sand trader Abdul Malek who filed the robbery case against the victims, and compensation to the bereaved families.
Meanwhile, SI Matiur Rahman, investigation officer of the cases filed by Abdul Malek and Savar police, yesterday said they could not yet identify or arrest anyone.

-With The Daily Star input

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