The High Court on Sunday began delivering its verdict in a landmark custodial death case involving the killing of Urdu-speaking youth Ishtiaque Ahmed Jony who died in police custody at Pallabi police station in 2014.
This marks the first-ever verdict by the High Court under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act, 2013, a law enacted to prevent abuse in state custody and hold the members of the law enforcement agencies accountable for acts of torture and extrajudicial killing.
The High Court bench of Justice SM Kuddus Zaman and Justice AKM Rabiul Hassan began reading out the verdict after hearing appeals challenging the lower court鈥檚 verdict sentencing three police officers to life in prison and two police informers to seven years鈥� imprisonment.
The High Court鈥檚 delivery of the verdict will resume on Monday, as the full judgment could not be delivered in two sessions.
On September 8, 2020, the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge鈥檚 Court sentenced the then Pallabi police station sub-inspector Jahidur Rahman Khan, and assistant sub-inspectors Kamruzzaman Mintu and Rashedul Hasan to life imprisonment and their two informers, Sumon and Rashedul, to seven years each for their involvement in Jony鈥檚 custodial death.
Jony, a human-hauler driver, was arrested along with his brother Imtiaz Hossain Raki and three others at the night following February 9, 2014, during a pre-wedding celebration of a friend at Irani Camp in Pallabi.
The arrests followed an altercation while Jony reportedly slapped Sumon for harassing female dancers at the event.
Sumon and his associates then called the police, leading to a raid by a police team led by sub-inspector Zahidur.
Despite this context, the Pallabi police station diary reported that the five men were picked up for 鈥榮uspicious movement鈥� near the DOHS area.
The police forwarding report to the magistrate鈥檚 court later claimed they had been arrested for 鈥榙isrupting public safety鈥� in the Mirpur bus stand area, highlighting contradictions in the official narrative of the police.
A judicial probe, ordered by the lower court in response to a complaint filed by Raki in August 2015, found that the arrests, torture, and custodial death of Jony were orchestrated by the three police officers and two informers.
The complaint had also named the then Pallabi police station officer-in-charge Ziaur Rahman and two other informers, but they were not indicted in the final ruling.
The judicial probe further confirmed that the detainees, including Jony, were taken to Mirpur Adhunik Hospital for 鈥榩rimary treatment鈥� before being brought to the police station.
CCTV footage from the hospital showed a white microbus arriving at the emergency gate carrying Jony, Raki, and two others, Sharif Ahmed Titu and Faisal.
The Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, marking the case as a crucial example of civil society鈥檚 role in seeking justice for victims of state abuse, provided free legal aid to the complainant Raki.