TORTURING DU STUDENT KADER
Court upholds prison for Khilgaon OC Helal
STAFF REPORTER
A Dhaka court yesterday upheld a lower court verdict that had sentenced former police officer Md Helal Uddin to three years imprisonment on charge of torturing a former Dhaka University student.
Judge Md Zahidul Kabir of the Dhaka Fifth Additional Sessions Judges Court passed the order dismissing an appeal filed by Helal Uddin challenging the lower court verdict.
In July 2011, former Khilgaon Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Helal Uddin detained Dhaka University student Abdul Kader on charges of robbery while he was returning to Fazlul Haque Muslim Hall from a relatives house.
OC Helal Uddin tried to force Kader to confess that he was a mugger. Helal smacked Kaders leg with a machete after he refused to give in to the police pressure. Later, police implicated Kader in three false cases. However, following a media outcry, the High Court on July 28, 2011 ordered the police to probe the incident.
Three officials of Khilgaon Police Station, including OC Helal, were suspended and Kader was released on bail on August 3, 2011. Kader was acquitted of all the charges later in 2012.
Kader sued Helal on January 23, 2012 for torturing him and filing the false cases.
On May 17, 2015, a magistrate court sentenced Helal Uddin to three years in prison in absentia. Later, the court on May 31, 2015 sent Helal to jail on surrender. The former police officer challenged the verdict at the metropolitan sessions judges court, but the court upheld the sentence yesterday.
Helal Uddin, who had been suspended after the incident, is currently on bail granted by the High Court.
Kader, who now teaches at a government college after clearing the Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) exams, said that he was satisfied with verdict. The verdict will be an example for those trying to oppress the innocent, he added.
