World Justice Project-Rule of Law Index and
Bertelsmann Foundation Transformation
Index.
The low score of Bangladesh in the CPI
generally leads to the conclusion that,
human rights of the people are being
violated because of corruption.
Political Violence
The beginning of 2015 witnessed huge
political violence led by BNP alliance in
connivance
with
Jamaat-e-Islami
Bangladesh. The then opposition party
boycotted the national election of 5th
January 2014. In their absence Awami
League won the election and formed the
government. At the anniversary of the
election, BNP led blockade programs where
throwing patrol bombs, killing of people
took place. The daily life of people of
Bangladesh was hampered in January and
February.
The
Secondary
School
Certification examination also delayed
many times for the protest programs. On 15
February 2015, the High Court ordered the
government to take effective action to
quash ongoing protests that have left more
than 100 people dead.
JAMAKON played a pivotal role during that
time. A lot of press releases were issued
condemning the role played by those
political parties. JAMAKON criticized the role
played by media which termed it as political
violence but JAMAKON deems it as
terrorism. So it should have been termed as
terrorism. Terrorism or violence cannot be
the language of protest in the dictionary of
democracy.
Disappearance and
enforcing agency
killing
by
law
Spokesman of a political party was
abducted on March 10, 2015 from an
apartment where he was hiding. Witnesses
said the abductors identified themselves as
member of the Detective Branch, while
other witnesses reported the presence of
RAB vehicles in the area. In May, he was
found in India and was charged by Indian
authorities with illegal entry. He sought
protection from the United Nations Refugee
Agency (UNHCR), saying he had been
abducted by unknown gunmen and feared
for his life if returned to Bangladesh. The
government failed to investigate the
possible role of security forces in this and
other disappearances, even in cases where
family members identified the perpetrators
to be members of RAB or police.
The total number complaints of extra
judicial killing dealt by JAMAKON is only 6
amongst them suo moto initiative taken by
JAMAKON is 5! That means only one
complaint was lodged by the complainant.
The main reason of this meager figure is the
circumscribed power given by the NHRC Act
2009. JAMAKON deems that the Act should
be revised and empower JAMAKON
according to the call of time.
Freedom of expression and association
Five secular writers and publishers have
been hacked to death in Bangladesh in
2015. However, judgment of killing of
blogger
Rajib
was
delivered
on
31stDecember 2015. This is the first
decision against killing of bloggers.
Section 57 of ICT Act 2006 goes against
people's right to freedom of expression and
free speech. The HC on September 1
questioned the legality of section 57,
issuing a rule upon the government to
explain as to why the section should not be
declared unconstitutional. The government
is drafting Digital Security Act 2015 where
all the contradictory sections of, including
section 57, will be repealed.
The position of JAMAKON in this regard was
very much clear during that time. JAMAKON
condemned every attack on the bloggers
and demanded the trial of the perpetrators.
JAMAKON was a constant vocal of freedom
of expression throughout the year.
9
JAMAKON