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Recently, this writer had separate meetings with a number of senior politicians to learn their positions on the need to criminalize torture, which is endemic and continues unabated.
A senior politician, who is also a member of Parliament from a northeastern constituency and holds an important ministry post, argued that Bangladesh should continue custodial torture.
"See, Bangladesh is a third world democracy. If we do not use torture, then how can we combat our political opponents? Even if we want to control Islamic militancy, we need to use torture. Otherwise, how do you manage these problems?" the parliamentarian asked. He gave the impression that Bangladesh should remain in the list of "third world" nations forever.
His arguments are similar to those of the police. They always claim that torture is necessary to control crime. Ironically, neither the police nor parliamentarians emphasize the need to implement the law in controlling crime.
The following case illustrates the point. Sub-inspector Abul Hossain began his first day on the job at the Narsingdi Sadar Model Police Station with an arrest and the brutal torture of Shakil Sarkar, a sixth grade student. On Oct. 2 at about 8 a.m. Shakil had gone to meet his classmate Tanvir, who reportedly had been missing since the previous night.
Hossain took Shakil from Tanvir's house to the police station, although there was no complaint against him. The police officer detained him and then interrogated him about the whereabouts of Tanvir. As Shakil was not aware of Tanvir's whereabouts, Hossain allegedly tied Shakil's legs and hands with rope and hit him with a hammer on his body joints and the soles of his feet.
Shakil's mother, Rozy Begum, heard what was going on and went to rescue her son, but police officers beat her too. At about 7:30 p.m., Tanvir's relatives found him at his maternal grandfather's home in Nelaxa, which falls under the Raipura police station of the Narsingdi district.
Around midnight police released Shakil from custody, but not before warning him and his mother of dire consequences if they disclosed the torture episode to anybody. Due to injuries sustained during police torture, Shakil had to be admitted to the Narsingdi Sadar Hospital for treatment.
When the media asked Mohammad Ali, the police superintendent of the Narsingdi district, about the torture incident and the wrong abduction of Shakil by the police, he simply said, “"Sorry for what has happened. If there is any written complaint lodged with the police on the issue, the police will inquire into the matter and will take action, if anybody is found guilty.”
On the other hand, the additional superintendent of police of the same district, Bijoy Basak, a subordinate to Ali, denied the torture allegation altogether.
Saying "sorry" for torturing someone does not cure the pain suffered by the victim. Neither does denying that torture took place. The disease of torture has infected the entire police force. Neither apologies nor denials can absolve the perpetrators’ guilt.
Shakil is not a criminal, a political opponent or an Islamic militant. But his case is not an isolated incident. Hundreds of people have suffered torture at the hands of the police, and some cases have resulted in the death of the victim in custody.
So what is the relationship between the use of torture to obtain information from a sixth grader like Shakil, and a third world democracy?
Every case of torture has the same ending: the victim alleges police torture in custody; the police deny it and sometimes apologize as Ali did when questioned by the media; police refuse to lodge any complaint regarding the torture incident; there is no complaint, no inquiry and no punishment for the perpetrators.
This can only happen in a country where senior parliamentarians argue in favor of using torture. Their arguments are based on a feudal mindset and their expectations of receiving undeserved political benefits. Such arguments contain no rational reasoning.
Instead of arguing for torture by saying Bangladesh is a so-called third world democracy, politicians should check the abuse of power by police who extort money from ordinary people.
They must check how many cases the police in each of the country’s 631 police stations fabricate every day. They must find out whether the police are efficient in investigating cases and whether they follow the due process of law.
Politicians should investigate the number of reports that are politically motivated and manipulated by the police as well as politicians. They must find out how many criminal offenders get direct and indirect support from the police and go scot-free by paying bribes, and how many innocent individuals are implicated in crimes committed by criminals that enjoy police patronization.
Parliamentarians should also inquire how much people trust institutions like the police and the judiciary and formulate steps to earn the people's trust in these institutions.
Politicians should also look into sincere and serious efforts to address problems relating to law and order in establishments whose functional systems are weak. There must also be transparency in allocation of government budgets to law institutions and law enforcement agencies.
Policymakers should expose all inefficient policing and judicial systems to avoid manipulation and abuse of political power. But Bangladeshis need the political will, first, from politicians who run the country to build a rule-of-law system that can remove the bad reputation of a "third-world democracy."
If they are able to achieve that, then the results of their political will and practical initiatives can help the nation secure a position among the developed countries. There are no short cuts to improving people's trust or to moving the nation from a "third world" identity to a developed one.
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(Rater Zonaki is the pseudonym of a human rights defender based in Hong Kong, working at the Asian Human Rights Commission. He is a Bangladeshi national who has worked as a journalist and human rights activist in his country for more than a decade, and as editor of publications on human rights and socio-cultural issues.)
