A writ petition was filed with the High Court yesterday seeking judicial investigation into the incident of torture of Bangladesh Bank Assistant Director Golam Rabby by a police sub-inspector (SI) in Mohammadpur area of the capital on January 9. Two Supreme Court lawyers -- KM Ehsanur Rahman and SM Zulfiqar Ali-- and journalist Zahid Hasan jointly filed the petition with the relevant branch of the HC yesterday morning. The HC may hold hearing on the petition Monday (today), concerned lawyers said. The petition also sought HC directives to arrest suspended police SI Masud Shikdar for torturing Rabbi, after accepting the written complaint of Rabby against the police official as the case statement. The petition sought a total TK 3 crore as compensation for the victim and a rule against the respondents to explain why the torture and harassment of Rabbi should not be declared unconstitutional and illegal. The home and the law secretaries, the inspector general of police, the Tejgaon deputy commissioner of police, the officer-in-charge of Mohammadpur Police Station and SI Masud Shikdar have been made respondents to the petition. After filing the petition, Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, counsel for the petitioners, told reporters that the policemen led by SI Masud illegally and arbitrarily tortured Rabby in violation of the constitution.
Rabby’s physical condition is not good and there is a doubt whether he will fully recover from the trauma, both mental and physical, of the torture, he said. Rabby is currently being treated at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, he added. According to the complaint filed by Rabbi, a police team of Mohammadpur Police Station led by SI Masud picked him up from Geneva Camp area on the night of January 9 in a bid to extort money. The police SI tortured him for several hours and threatened to kill him. A few hours after his detention, Rabby was released near Asad Gate in Mohammadpur. The following day, Rabby submitted a written complaint with the deputy commissioner (Tejgaon) of DMP. The authorities concerned suspended SI Masud Shikdar on Saturday. Meanwhile, a probe committee, formed by the police to look into the incident of torturing of a Bangladesh Bank official reportedly by a sub-inspector of Mohammadpur Police Station, submitted its report yesterday, reports UNB. The one-member inquiry committee submitted its report to the Deputy Commissioner (Tejgaon Division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) at noon. Contacted, Deputy Commissioner (Media) of DMP M Maruf Hossain Sarder said they sent the probe report to the DMP headquarters. Asked about the probe findings, he declined make any comment saying the DMP Commissioner will take necessary actions as per the report.