According to media reports, 59 BDR (Bangladesh Rifles)
members arrested in the wake of the mutiny of February
2009 died in custody. Family members of the victims alleged
that they died after being tortured. According to Odhikar,
several BDR members taken into custody claimed the RAB
and police physically assaulted and beat them, administered
electric shocks, blindfolded them, and hung them upside
down while in custody; NGOs alleged that army personnel
also were involved in custodial deaths.75 The government
announced an investigation and promised to publish a report
by July 2009 regarding the nature of the deaths but failed to
publish any such report. The government investigation ruled
that only two members died due to torture and that the
others died because of illness or suicide. So far, the
government has not taken any action regarding the deaths or
allegations of torture of the BDR personnel.
Responsibility to Protect:
On the night of July 17, 2011, six college students were
beaten to death at Amin Bazaar in Savar by a group of people
following a false alarm from a mosque that a gang attacked
their locality to commit a robbery. Later, the judicial enquiry
commission formed to probe this case found that “[t]he
victims were not robbers. They were completely innocent”.76
The probe body concluded that if the policemen had
76
77
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The Daily Star.
The Daily Star, July 28, 2011.