Afroza’s death in custody is a blow to law enforcement
We are outraged to learn of yet another case of custodial death in the country. This time, the victim is a 40-year-old woman from Abhaynagar upazila in Jashore. Her family alleges that local police implicated her in a false drug case and brutally tortured her, leading to her death. Police, however, claim that they detained her for illicit drug possession and deny the allegations of torture. Regardless of who is right, the fact remains that a person died in police custody, and it is a grievous blow to law enforcement that cannot be taken lightly.
According to a report by this daily, a team of Abhaynagar police led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Silon Ali detained the victim, Afroza Begum, right outside her house in the early hours of Sunday. Her ninth-grader son said he saw his mother being searched by a female constable, who found nothing. Then ASI Silon started torturing Afroza before police took her away at around 1am. Her elder son also said police had demanded Tk 2 lakh for her release. The Abhaynagar OC, however, claimed that police had found 30 yaba pills on Afroza, and later a case was filed against her.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. 
Besides the allegations of torture and falsifying evidence, there seems to be a case of neglect in addressing Afroza's medical needs as well. Her elder son said they found her in a bad condition when they visited her at the police station in the morning. Police apparently took her to the upazila health complex, but brought her back without running the tests recommended. Hours later, when Afroza's condition deteriorated, police again took her to the upazila complex, and then to Jashore General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Unsurprisingly, police are denying any responsibility, saying the victim's family is making false accusations.
But what possible reason could there be for the family to do so? Equally importantly, will there be a fair investigation to get to the bottom of the incident? Over the years, we saw how such cases were often followed by perfunctory probes that hardly brought any satisfactory results. What happened to the young man who allegedly died by suicide in police custody in Habiganj in December last year? What happened to the Jubo Dal leader in Thakurgaon who died hours after being detained by police in April? The glaring holes in the case of Sultana Jasmine, who died in Rab's custody in March last year, also raised a lot of questions.
We keep asking these questions but there are seldom any satisfactory answers. Convictions in such cases are even rarer. Clearly, there is a lack of accountability pervading our law enforcement forces and institutions, which is totally unacceptable. Custodial torture—whether resulting in deaths or not—is a betrayal of public trust, and it must not be tolerated. We demand a proper investigation into the death of Afroza Begum and all such cases by an impartial and independent body.
Comments