Jamalpur freedom fighter dies in ‘police torture’

A freedom fighter has died after alleged police torture in Jamalpur Sadar upazila today when he went in the aid of a relative booked for boarding a local train without ticket.

- 8 railway policemen withdrawn

- FF Bari ‘beaten up with batons’

- Injury marks found on the body

Deceased Abdul Bari, 65, was beaten up with batons, reports our Jamalpur correspondent quoting Haider Ali, commander of Jamalpur sadar upazila Muktijoddha Sangsad.

Mazharul Islam Babu, a business student at Rajshahi University and nephew of Bari, was detained for boarding a local train without ticket, Khoka described the incident.

When Freedom Fighter Bari went to free his nephew, there was an altercation. At one point, Bari fell to the ground unconscious. He was later declared dead at a hospital.

Jamalpur Railway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Gour Chandra Majumder admitted of the altercation. “They were shoving and pushing around. At one point he (Bari) fell to the ground.”

Bari was later taken to Mymensingh facility of Combined Military Hospital (CMH) where he died.

Jamalpur Civil Surgeon Moshair-ul Islam Ratan told The Daily Star there were injury wounds on Bari’s body. “He was brought here around 12:00noon. He later died.”

Eight railway policemen including OC Majumder were withdrawn following the incident, Shahbuddin Khan, deputy commissioner of Jamalpur district, said.

A five-member committee, headed by additional deputy commissioner of Jamalpur, Russel Sabrin, has been formed to probe the incident, DC Khan told The Daily Star.