‘2 out of 3 prisoners are held without trial’

Human rights activist Sultana Kamal today alleged that two out of every three prisoners in Bangladesh’s prisons are kept confined without a trial.

“A majority are in imprisonment without any offences,” Kamal, chairperson of Transparency International, said. “They aren’t being prosecuted either.”

“It is clearly stated in our constitution that nobody can be kept in jail without trial,” Sultana Kamal said at a seminar at Ranada Prasad Saha University in Narayanganj.

She alleged, the prisons are overpopulated – filled with prisoners upto four times the capacity.

“There are extrajudicial killings,” she said. “A state can’t violate its law and as per the law the extrajudicial killing is in contrary to the constitution.”

“It is also stated in the constitution that no one can curb our freedom of speech and expression. But we saw that the Digital Security Act has cut such rights,” she said.

Infrastructural development of the country can be ensured in many ways and the country may grow more than others, but whether or not it touches the people is the question, she said.