Human Rights Watch has suggested Bangladesh government for independent investigation and prosecute the Rapid Action Battalion members responsible for shooting and maiming Limon Hossain, a teenager student of Rajapur in Jhalokathi
The authorities last week dropped politically motivated charges against the teenager but have not taken action against his attackers, the New York-based rights organisation said in a report published in its website on October 20.
“The government needs to take action against the Rab officer who shot Limon, which led to a permanent disability, as well as those who perverted the course of justice by bringing phony charges against him.” said Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW.
“Rab is a death squad that cannot be reformed,” Adams said adding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s promise of zero tolerance for abuses by Rab will continue to ring hollow unless she takes the bold step to disband Rab altogether.
Limon, a college student at the time, was shot by Rab men in a bungled security operation in a Rajapur village on March 23, 2011. He was in the fields near his village home when members of Rab, a paramilitary security force, accused him of being a criminal and shot him on the leg at point-blank range. Four days later, doctors amputated Limon’s leg to save his life.
“It is good that Bangladeshi authorities have finally dropped the spurious charges against Limon, but he never should have been charged in the first place,” Adams said.
After the incident, the then-director general of Rab said in the immediate aftermath of the shooting that Limon was an accidental victim of a shootout between the elite force and criminal gangs, the HRW said.
However, the police took no action against his attackers and instead filed two charges against the victim in an attempt to shelter Rab from accountability, it added.
Human Rights Watch and others have long documented Rab’s responsibility for hundreds of extrajudicial killings and other serious human rights violations. In spite of compelling evidence, no Rab member has ever been successfully prosecuted for these crimes.
HRW urged the authorities to break the cycle of impunity by successfully prosecuting those Rab officers responsible for the May 2014 execution of seven people in Narayanganj.
At least three Rab officers were arrested after massive media coverage and, it seems, because one of the victims came from a well-connected political family, the rights body claimed.
Rab was established in 2004 as an elite anti-crime and counter-terror unit consisting of both the military and police, thereby involving the army in civilian law enforcement.
Over the last decade, successive governments led by BNP; the subsequent military-backed caretaker regime; and since 2009, the Awami League, have allowed the force to operate with impunity, leading to serious and systematic abuses, the HRW alleged.
In opposition the Awami League called for the disbandment of RAB and for the prosecution of those responsible for “crossfire” and other killings, but it has failed to take serious action despite hundreds of killings since it came to power.
Reiterating its call for the Bangladesh government to disband Rab, the HRW said the government should withdraw all military officers and soldiers from Rab and replace it with an entirely civilian force, HRW said.
On September 18, members of the European Union Parliament expressed serious concern over disappearances, killings, and other ongoing violations by Rab.
Earlier in July, Human Rights Watch in a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had reiterated its call for disbanding Rapid Action Battalion as it believed the elite force is “beyond reform.”
Until it is disbanded, Rab should be made into an entirely civilian force by withdrawing all military officers and soldiers from its membership, the New York-based rights organisation said.
The government, however, rejected outright the call of HRW, while National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) saw “politics” in the demand of the global watchdog and questioned its jurisdiction over raising such a demand as a foreign organisation.
“The Bangladeshi government has promised to reform Rab and hold it accountable, but it has utterly failed,” said HRW Asia Director Brad Adams in a press release yesterday.
“The lack of accountability has allowed the Rapid Action Battalion to run amok. Rab is beyond reform and should swiftly be abolished,” it added.
The rights body made the call for the second time within a little over two months. On May 14, it urged that Rab be disbanded and called on Sheikh Hasina to establish an independent body to investigate the allegations of crimes allegedly committed by Rab.
After the formation of Rab in 2004 during the BNP-led four-party government, HRW first raised question over the activities of Rab in December 2006.
In May, 2009, it recommended dissolving Rab and Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), terming them “symbols of abuse and impunity.”
In May 2011, HRW urged Bangladesh government to reform Rab within the next six months or disband it altogether.
The elite force came under serious criticism from different quarters after three of its officers were sent on retirement for their alleged involvement with the abduction and murder of seven people in Narayanganj in April.
The HRW said evidence that Rab officers were responsible for the contract killings of seven men in April allegedly on behalf of a ruling party member, has provoked outrage in Bangladesh and is yet another example of how the unit has operated as a death squad.
According to HRW, Rab has been responsible for numerous acts of torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests, and approximately 800 killings over the last 10 years.
Source: weekly holiday
