‘Only the magistrates and the courts have the authority to justify whether any incident of encounter or gunfight is extrajudicial or not’
Reports on extrajudicial killings prepared by rights organisations Odhikar and Bangladesh Human Rights Commission (BHRC) are nothing but subversive propaganda and threat to the rule of law, the Police Headquarters said in a protest statement yesterday.
It claims that no incident of extrajudicial killings took place in July.
“Magistrates have examined all the incidents of July and found nothing extrajudicial. Only the magistrates and the courts have the authority to justify whether any incident of encounter or gunfight is extrajudicial or not,” reads the statement.
A recent report by Odhikar claimed that seven people had been killed extra-judicially in the name of “crossfire, encounters, gunfights” of the law enforcers in July. Of them, five were killed by elite force Rapid Action Battalion while the two others by the police.
“Some foreign-funded agencies are producing reports that are aimed at blemishing reputation of the law enforcement agencies and the judicial system. These are considered as subversive activities,” the Police HQ statement says adding that such reports are defamatory and also tantamount to criminal offence.
The statement also mentions that 102 members of the police force were killed while discharging duties last year. Recently, a tourist police official was killed by muggers in Cox’s Bazar.
Nazrul Islam, assistant inspector general (media) of the Police HQ, told the Dhaka Tribune that the courts can make statements about the legal aspects of police’s activities. “But these agencies are making statements illegally,” he claimed.
– http://www.dhakatribune.com updated on: August 3, 2015