Custodial Death: Victim’s family ‘leaves home fearing reprisal’
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The family of the woman, who died in Jashore police custody on Sunday morning, locked their house and moved to a relative's home after the incident, said a neighbour.
Afroza Begum, 40, died hours after being picked up by Abhaynagar police from her Nawapara village home. Her family accused police of torture.
Visiting Afroza's house yesterday, our Benapole correspondent found it locked.
Her neighbour Nurul Islam Hawladar said the family moved to a relative's house fearing reprisals from police.
The Daily Star could not reach Afroza's husband Jalil Mollah and their two sons, Munna Mollah and Sabbir Molla, for comments as their phones were switched off.
According to the family members, police tortured Afroza and framed he in a drug case as they failed to pay Tk 2 lakh in bribe for her release.
Refuting the allegation of torture, police claimed they detained the woman with 30 yaba tablets.
Jashore police yesterday formed a three-member committee, led by an additional superintendent of police, to investigate the allegations and the death.
Two rights organisations yesterday expressed grave concern at Afroza's death and demanded fair and neutral probe into the incident and appropriate legal action against those responsible.
Speaking to journalists on Sunday, deceased's son Sabbir, a ninth-grader, said a police team, led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Silon Ali of Abhaynagar Police Station, reached their home around midnight on Saturday.
"Take out what you have," Sabbir quoted Silon asking her mother.
"As my mother replied she had nothing, a female police constable frisked her and found nothing. Then the ASI started beating her up in front of me. At one stage, she fell on the ground. He then tied my mother's lock of hair to a ceiling fan and tortured her," Sabbir said.
His elder brother Munna said the police team went to their house at the instigation of some locals and detained her mother on false charges of possessing yaba tablets.
"The ASI and some other police personnel tortured my mother and then took her away around 1:00am on Sunday," he said.
He said police demanded Tk 2 lakh in bribe for his mother's release. "As we could not pay the money, they tortured her to death."
Munna said they went to the police station on Sunday morning and found her mother in a bad condition.
Police took Afroza to the upazila health complex upon the family's request.
"They returned to the police station with my mother without conducting any tests of her as recommended by the duty doctor," he alleged.
As Afroza's condition deteriorated, she was taken to Jashore General Hospital where doctors declared her dead around 11:30am on Sunday.
Hasib Ali Hasan, a medical officer of the hospital, said the woman was brought dead to the hospital. An autopsy was conducted on the body, he added.
Police filed a drug case against the woman on Sunday morning.
ASI Silon claimed the allegations made by Afroza's family were false and baseless.
Akikul Islam, officer-in-charge of Abhaynagar Police Station, said police detained Afroza with 30 yaba tablets and kept her in the lock-up on Saturday night.
She fell ill on Sunday morning and died on the way to a hospital, he said.
The OC claimed that police did not torture her.
FAIR PROBE DEMANDED
Rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) in a statement yesterday said the allegations brought by Afroza's family were very serious.
Physical torture of a person in police custody is illegal and also a manifestation of unprofessional behaviour of law enforcers, it added.
The allegation of demanding bribe by police after an arrest has become a regular occurrence, the rights body said.
ASK demanded a judicial enquiry into the death.
Another rights platform Manabadhikar Shongskriti Foundation (MSF) said police's statement regarding Afroza's death is merely a procedural statement, which is not acceptable and credible at all.
Torturing a woman after tying her lock of hair to a fan, showing her arrested with 30 yaba tables after failing to find anything during frisking and interrogation, and demanding Tk 2 lakh in bribe for her release is the manifestation of immorality on the part of police personnel, it added.
MSF demanded an impartial investigation into the custodial death, and justice and accountability for such incidents be ensured.
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