Rights investigation
Who are responsible for making children accused?
Shanta Sultana
At 7 Ankhi has learned the worst of police. The sight of policemen makes her nervous. "I still get scared when I see policemen. It seems to me that they will arrest me," says the little girl from Pallabi in the capital.
"It was late into night, I was fast asleep. Suddenly somebody woke me up forcefully. I saw police standing in my room. They took me to the police station where I was severely scolded," Ankhi recalls with tears in her eyes.
It took two years to remove Ankhi's name from the case of 'theft' and 'indecent assault' on a woman. The case was filed by a fish trader, Ashiqur Rahman, with Pallabi police station in 2003.
Ankhi was asked whether she is familiar with the words 'indecent assault'. In reply, she gives only a blank look indicating she does not understand the words.
This was the sad story of Ankhi.
A few days back, there took place an unbelievable incident involving Rihdoy Nath of the port city of Chittagong. A mere three-month-old Rihdoy had to spend 11 days in police custody in a case of theft and robbery in February this year.
The day Rihdoy was taken into custody, the infant screamed as he was deprived of breastfeeding for the whole day. He later developed skin disease for his time in the filthy environment. Let alone the attention of a doctor, he was not even provided with any medicine. Not only Ankhi or Rihdoy, there are so many other children on the list of such cases of human rights violation.
Sagar Nath, 2, Durjoy Nath, 1, and Bijoy Nath, 4, of Chittagong, Emon, 7, of Jessore, Lavlu of Barisal and many more could be added to the list. Some of them still remained accused in criminal cases.
Most of them were accused of burglary, some of robbery and some of indecent assault. A few of them were also accused of toll collection. Their innocent minds have stained with ugly allegations at the very outset of their lives.
Asked about recurrence of such incidents, eminent lawyer Dr Kamal Hossainn says, "Such incidents are frequently taking place due to corruption, inefficiency and irresponsibility of our police force. The Ministry of Home Affairs is also responsible. There are laws in our country but those not properly enforced.
Child rights are violated regularly although protection of their rights is clearly stated in the charters of human and child rights.
Article 37 of the Child Rights Charter says that no child could be tortured or they could be behaved in cruel, inhuman and undignified manners. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child must be the last resort and be as per law.
About this Advocate Mohammad Abdul Mannan Khan, a human rights activist of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services (BLAST) says, "In 70 per cent of cases against children in our country police are the plaintiffs although the charter of child rights ensures their rights. In other cases, cases are filed by individuals driven by personal enmity and dispute."
A police official at Dhanmondi Police Station, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says, "We are supposed to take a case when an plaintiff comes to us. Sometimes they complain of such serious offences that we do not have enough time to launch investigation before initiating the case. If we do not take the case we are pressured from higher level. Sometimes we have to take the case if the plaintiff is an influential person."
About children's ages, he says, "Sometimes we do not write the name of the accused because of our negligence or hurry, but sometimes the plaintiff cheats us by hiding the age or giving wrong information." When asked about it, Dr Kamal says, "It depends on inefficiency of police to understand whether the case being filed is the real one or false. They need to understand that or else innocent children will suffer." It was seen in some of the recent cases that children had to travel to courts for securing bail. The judges granted them bail instead of quashing the cases.
A magistrate, who also spoke wishing anonymity, says, "Actually, we have nothing to do about it. Our hands are tied by laws. When a child comes to court as an accused it is not possible for us to be sure at once whether the child is really an accused of the particular case because on many occasions the age of the child is not mentioned. This is why we cannot release the child until investigation is complete."
There also instances police release an accused after taking bribe and they pick up another child from the street to replace the real one. Sometimes they make a child accused after freeing the original guilty amid pressure from the higher level. "All these things happen because people are not aware of their rights," says Supreme Court lawyer Mohammad Tanveer Parvez. "So first of all those who are in the administration must be honest and we all have a sense of justice," he says suggesting inclusion of some laws in school curricula to make people aware about their rights.
Source: NewsNetwork.
