Following a three-year legal battle, former Dhaka University student Abdul Kadar has finally got justice as a Dhaka court yesterday punished a police official for torturing him in custody in 2011.

The court handed down three years' imprisonment to Md Helal Uddin, the then officer-in-charge of Khilgaon Police Station, for torturing Kadar.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Alamgir Kabir Raj also fined the convict Tk 10,000, in default of which he has to spend three more months in jail.

Abdul Kadar is seen inside a police van in 2011. Then a Dhaka University student, he was tortured in police custody and made accused in false cases. Yesterday, about four years after his ordeal, a court gave three-year jail sentence to the police officer responsible. Photo: File

The judge convicted Helal in absentia, rejecting his lawyer's petition for adjourning the pronouncement of the verdict.

The judgment sets a rare example of punishing a police official for custodial torture in a country where allegations of such torture and deaths are rampant.

At least 17 people died in jail custody in the first three months of this year. The number was 60 last year, according to rights body Ain O Salish Kendra.

In his immediate reaction to the verdict, Kadar, now a lecturer at Laxmipur Government Mahila College, told this correspondent, "I have got justice, finally."

Before delivering the judgment, the court cancelled Helal's bail, declared him a fugitive, and issued a conviction warrant against him.

The sentence will take effect from the day of the convict's arrest or surrender.

In the judgment, the magistrate said the charge against the accused for voluntarily causing injuries by dangerous weapons was "proved beyond doubte", and he was given "the maximum punishment" for committing the offence.

In the early hours of July 16, 2011, some plainclothes policemen from Khilgaon Police Station stopped Kadar at Segunbagicha while he was returning to his dormitory, Fazlul Huq Hall, from a relative's house in the capital's Eskaton area.

They beat Kadar, then a DU student of biochemistry and molecular biology, with sticks, according to the statement of the case filed by Kadar in January 2012.

"When I asked them the reason for beating me even though I introduced myself as a DU student, they became furious and took me to Khilgaon Police Station."

"Around 10:00am, OC Helal Uddin took me to his office room and forced me to admit to various crimes I had not committed," read the statement.

The OC then beat Kadar, leaving him injured in the back, legs and other parts of his body. At one stage, the police officer stabbed him in the left leg with a knife.

Later, two cases were filed against him -- one for robbery and the other for possession of an illegal firearm -- with the police station. He was shown arrested in another false case filed with Mohammadpur Police Station for carjacking.

As the facts gradually came to light through media reports, there was a huge public outcry for bringing the culprits to justice.

Taking into cognisance a report of The Daily Star, the High Court directed the government and the police authorities to launch special probes into the matter.

Following the directive, OC Helal, sub-inspector Alam Badsha and assistant sub-inspector Shahidur Rahman were suspended in July 2011.

Kadar was released on bail on August 3 the same year. Later, three courts acquitted him in all three false cases.

On January 23, 2012, Kadar filed the case with Khilgaon Police Station against Helal for torturing him in custody and implicating him falsely in three criminal cases.

 Kadar mentioned that he had filed the case on the suggestions of the probe committee formed by the law ministry and an HC order on December 11, 2011.

After the filing of the case, Helal surrendered before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court that sent him to jail.

Police carried out an investigation into the matter, and pressed charges against him on March 26, 2012. The court framed charges against him on October 1 the same year.

Helal secured bail from the HC, and appeared before the magistrate's court regularly. He, however, didn't show up at the court yesterday.

KADAR'S REACTION

"I am very satisfied with the verdict as it has proved that OC Helal did injustice to me," Kadar told The Daily Star over the phone.

He said some policemen like Helal is tarnishing the image of the police force.

"I believe the bad cops will take lessons from the judgment that if they do injustice, they will be punished," he said.

Kadar, who once dreamt of becoming a police officer, said he is quite comfortable with the teaching profession.

He expressed gratitude to the media for unearthing the truth.