Affidavit In Bangladesh

Does extra judicial killing diminish public faith on judicial system of Bangladesh?

“Yes, Extra Judicial Killing diminish public faith on Judicial System of Bangladesh

Prologue:

Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Article 31 (2008, April) clearly      affirmed that:

“To enjoy the protection of the law, and to be treated in accordance with law, and only in accordance with law, is the inalienable right of every citizen, wherever he may be, and of every other person for the time being within Bangladesh, and in particular no action detrimental to the life, liberty, body, reputation or property of any person shall be taken except in accordance with law” (p. 09).

An extrajudicial killing is the killing of a person by governmental authorities without the sanction of any judicial proceeding or legal process. Extra judicial killings often target leading political, trade union, dissident, religious, and social figures and may be carried out by the state government or other state authorities like the armed forces and police. Dictatorship usually provides order and law. In law, the judiciary[1] (known as the judicial system or judicature) is the system of courts which administer justice in the name of the sovereign or state, a mechanism for the resolution of disputes. It usually consists of a court of a final appeal (called the ‘supreme court’ or ‘constitutional court’) and other lower court. The political landscape of Bangladesh has gone through dramatic changes during the last few years. After few years the continuous rules elected government science 1991[2].

This paper provides an overview and analysis of on the more recent continued problem of extra judicial killing of Bangladesh. The following Paper below the fold is about the nature of extra Judicial killing and their morality.  The fundamental difficulty is determining the difference in morality based on intent and actual result.  A terrorist can support at its core a worthy cause, but be deemed by supporting such a cause with utmost horrifying actions.  By the same token, this is true of extra Judicial killing must separate terrorists from civilians when they are deliberately trying to avoid being found.

Extrajudicial Killings:

Bangladesh has earned notoriety in carrying out extrajudicial killings[3].All human

Rights reports on Bangladesh, whether published by international organizations like

Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) or

Government reports like the US State Department Annual Human Rights Report, or

The European Parliament’s resolution, all referred to and expressed concern

Regarding extrajudicial killings carried by different security agencies in Bangladesh.[4]

Police also threaten complainants with extra-judicial killings under the cover of “crossfire” incidents. The message is clear to anyone that dares to complain about extra-judicial killings by the authorities in Bangladesh: complain and be killed. This leads to the perpetrators of such grave human rights abuses being able to operate and re-offend in the knowledge that their crimes will be accompanied by total impunity.

Bangladesh court asks end to extra-judicial killings. The Bangladesh High Court asked the home ministry and security forces on Monday to stop extra-judicial killings of alleged criminals. Deaths of people detained for alleged criminal links are often reported across the country by security forces who say the prisoners were brought along to assist in purported raids and other action against gangs. The first time officers were jailed for a suspected extrajudicial killing in Bangladesh after calls from human rights organizations who accuse law enforcement agencies of killing at least 200 people in custody since January 2009. Bangladesh’s Minister for Home Affairs Ms. Sahara Khatun has reportedly said that “no ‘crossfire’ killing [has] occurred since her party has assumed office” in January this year while she was speaking to the media yesterday, 17 November 2009.

Political party instigating extra judicial killings!

Bangladesh is instigating to extra judicial killings. Bangladesh is constitutionally committed to protecting and promoting human rights. Not only that, Bangladesh has signed many international treaties to protect the human rights. In spite of it is violating continuously. Even the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Home Minister and State Minister for Home are instigating to the extra judicial killings. On the other hand, in the investigation conducted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, such evidence has been found, which supports the allegations of extra-judicial killings against the RAB. Present grand alliance government led by Hasina had pledged in its electoral manifesto that once in power extrajudicial killing will be brought to an end. But it has not been stopped. Rather it is being continued in different names like ‘gun-fight’, ‘encounter’, ‘Crossfire’ etc. The foreign minister Dipu Moni recently told “extrajudicial killing was almost part of the system and could not be changed overnight.”[5]

Main Drawbacks of Judicial System:

Corruption and undue influence over the judiciary have a great impact on ensuring the right to justice and rule of law in Bangladesh. It not only denies justice to citizens’ but also offsets the trade, economic growth and human development.
Judicial corruption is the abuse of power of judges for the personal gain, and this personal gain could be material like financial gain, and non material like gain for political, professional ambitions. It also includes the any sort of influence over the judicial process by any action within the court system. Judges may be biased by the influence of guilty defendant of the high political or social status. Judges or court stuff may manipulate court documents to favor one or another party, judges may inaccurately summarize court proceedings or distort witness testimony before delivering a verdict, court personnel may ‘lose’ a file for a price.
Commonly two types of corruption prevailed in our judicial system, one is the political influence over judicial processes (court proceedings) by the executive or government/legislative, and second one is the bribery. Both the types are penetrating the judicial system in our country.
A. Political influence over judicial processes: Political influence comes from the Ministry and also from the bureaucrats, political affiliation affects the judicial system in various ways like threat to judges, appointment, promotion, deputation, removal, salary, and other benefits and conditions of the service.
B. Bribery: Bribery is another way of corruption in the judicial system. It can happen in any stage or any point of the judicial process. Most commonly it happens like Judges can take bribe to give favorable decisions, judges may accept bribes to delay or accelerate cases, accept or deny appeals, influence other judges. Lawyers may charge additional ‘fees’ to expedite or delay cases. These are the common example of bribery in the judicial system of our country. (Source: terms & definitions drawn from the TIB Global Corruption Report)

Bangladesh member of Human Rights Council:

Extra-judicial killings, torture, violence against women, media freedoms and the lack of an independent judiciary. Bangladesh has been re-elected to the Human Rights Council for another term of three years in uncontested elections at the UN General Assembly on May 12. However, during its previous three year membership in the Council, which started in 2006, the situation of human rights degraded significantly in the country, notably as the result of a nearly two-year state of emergency in which many fundamental rights were suspended and violated on a large scale.[6]

Government’s vision:
The ALRC has documented grave and widespread human rights abuses, including ill-treatment, custodial torture, extra-judicial killings, restrictions on the freedoms of expression and the press have been accompanied by impunity for the perpetrators of violations. This is due to a lack of access to justice for victims of abuses, notably through the lack of independent avenues to make complaints and a lack of independence of the judiciary
Implement pledge to halt extra-judicial killings: The Bangladesh Awami League won elections and assumed the power on January 6, 2009 with more than a two-thirds majority in parliament. In its election manifesto the Awami League promised that it will not allow extra-judicial killings. It also promised to uphold rule of law and human rights in the country. During the Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on February 3, 2009, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister, Dr. Dipu Moni, expressed her government’s “zero tolerance” policy with regard to extra-judicial killings. She also promised to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice. In reality, only three hours after the Foreign Minister’s pledge, Mr. Samsel Islam Robin was killed in a so-called “crossfire” incident by the Detective Branch of the Police in the Jhenaidah district of Bangladesh. Crossfire is often used to justify extra-judicial killings by the authorities. Reports indicate that there were 315 extrajudicial killings in 2006, 184 in 2007 and 149 in 2008. From January to May 2009, since the new government came to power, a further 20 such killings have been recorded, but no action is being taken concerning this most grave of human rights violations.[7]
Extrajudicial executions recent statistics:

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina pledged in February and October that the government would end extrajudicial executions. However, up to 70 people reportedly died in “crossfire” in the first nine months of the year. Police authorities usually characterized suspected extrajudicial executions as deaths from “crossfire” or after a “shoot-out”.

Family members of Mohsin Sheikh, aged 23, and Mohammad Ali Jinnah, aged§ 22, two Awami League student leaders, alleged that Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel shot the two men dead in Dhaka in May. The RAB claimed that the men disregarded a warning to stop at a checkpoint. It said that in the “gunfight” that followed, the men were shot dead. An autopsy of the bodies showed that none of the bullets fired by RAB officers had gone astray, which suggested that this was a planned killing and not a “gunfight”. Police subsequently opened criminal investigations against 10 RAB personnel, but no one was brought to justice.
Role of Human Rights Commission:

[8]

The Human Rights Commission, reconstituted on June 22, has asked the law enforcement agencies to stop extrajudicial killings in ‘crossfire’ or ‘encounter’ and custodial killings warning them that it would show ‘zero tolerance’ towards such incidents. The commission has also asked the police and the Rapid Action Battalion to conduct impartial and acceptable inquiries into such incidents and has given some directives for the law enforcement agencies in preventing further recurrence of extrajudicial or custodial killing. Human Rights Commission is considering recommending amendment to the laws making provisions for independent inquiries into each of the incidents of alleged extrajudicial or custodial killings or disappearance of any person after being picked up by the law enforcers, by the commission.[9]

Steps to Stop extrajudicial killings:

Extrajudicial killing is almost part of the system and it cannot be changed overnight.[10] To stop extra judicial killing government, people should be work together. Pertaining to this issue some crucial recommendations are given below:

n      Establish rule of law in every sphere of life

n      Respect constitution and its consequent articles

n      Develop Human Rights situation

n      Ensure the proper use  of state mechanism

n      Keep law enforcing agencies away from  political influence

n      Eradicate current loopholes of the legal system

Conclusion:

In the developing country like Bangladesh it is always sensitive and challenging task for government to manage military force and other law enforcing agencies properly. The history of military in this region isn’t that much sweeter. That is why the probability of any chaos or military rebellion can’t be ignored. If the situation goes beyond control the government has to count an extreme price .Government’s own creation will become the causes of destruction of its existence. So, proper initiatives and dynamic legal system are severely needed.  Everyone in Bangladesh has the right to remedy against human rights violation and to truth and justice. The right should not be violated. Bangladesh Parliament should take necessary steps about it. They must follow their own conscience to seek proper way to save human rights of every common people, which is their noble duty and responsibility. The law enforcement agencies must follow the rule of the International Human rights so that no one will be tortured by them or anyone. They should use their power in a right way only to prevent the criminal and to establish the truth.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

  1. Cavadino, M and Dignan, J, (1997) The Penal System: An Introduction, Second Edition.
  2. Croall, D and Tyrer, (1998) Criminal Justice, 2nd edition, Longman.
  3. news papers: daily star ,prothom allo
  4. Walker, S. (1993) Taming the System: The Control of Discretion in Criminal Justice 1950–1990, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  5. Zander, M: The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 ( a comprehensive account of the Act).
  6. Adams, B. (2008, August 11). Donors Should Not Fund Rapid Action Battalion. Retrieved February 05, 2011, from http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/08/10/bangladesh-end-wave-killings-elite-forces
  7. Bangladesh: extrajudicial executions referred to as “crossfire killings”. Retrieved March 29, 2010, from http://cesarsalgado.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/bangladesh-extrajudicial-executions-referred-to-as-crossfire-killings/
  8. Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Article 31. (2008, April). Right to protection of law. Dhaka: Bangladesh. Government Printing Office.
  9. Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Article 35 (5). (2008, April). Protection in respect of trial and punishment. Dhaka: Bangladesh. Government Printing Office.
  10. Ians, 2009, December 15. 1,000 extrajudicial killings since 2004 in Bangladesh. Retrieve March 27, 2010, from http://blog.taragana.com/law/2009/12/15/1000-extrajudicial-killings-since-2004-in-bangladesh-18695/
  11. International Federation for Human Rights. (2008, July 30). Bangladesh must put an end to extra-judicial killings. Bangladesh: Author.
  12. Khalil, T. (2006).  Justice, Bangladesh style, Forum, 1(2).Retrieved february2, 2011, from http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2006/december/justice.htm
  13. Khalil, T. (2006).  Justice, Bangladesh style, Forum, 1(2).Retrieved January 05, 2011, from http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2006/december/justice.htm
  14. RAB asked to be aware of human rights. Retrieve February 04, 2011, from http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=131766
  15. Eric Cullen and Tim Newell, (1999) Murderers and Life Imprisonment, 1st edition, Waterside Press.
  16. Farrington, D, and Langan, P (1992), ‘Changes in Crime and Punishment in England and America in the 1980s’, 9 Justice Quarterly 5.
  17. 3.Floud, J, and Young, W (1981), Dangerousness And Criminal Justice, Heinemann

[1] The term is also used to refer collectively to the judges, magistrates and other adjudicators who form the core of a judiciary (sometimes referred to as a “bench”), as well as the support personnel who keeps the system running smoothly.

[2] The democratic system collapsed: an army-backed Caretaker Government (CTG) took over; a state of emergency declared, and the Parliamentary elections scheduled to be held on January 22, 2007 were postponed. After nearly two years of rule by a non-elected government, the elections to the 9th Parliament were finally held on December 29, 2008. The elections, considered to be free and fair by major national and international observers, led to a democratic transition. However, a democratic transition does not necessarily guarantee democratic consolidation, although such consolidation must be the priority for Bangladesh for the coming years.

[3] Different terminologies have been used by the press and the law enforcement agencies to distract extrajudicial killings, such as, deaths during cross-fire, encounter etc. However, cross-fire is widely used when members of law enforcement agencies typically pick up a victim and then while recovering weapons with the arrestee, his hidden accomplices emerge open fire and in the process, the arrestee becomes the sole casualty. Not surprisingly, the number of extrajudicial killings was fairly high during 2008. It should be pointed out here that extrajudicial killings were taking place even during political governments and it continued during Emergency too

[4] The elected government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed made strong commitments to address serious human rights problems in 2010, but those promises were not realized, as extra judicial executions and torture continued, as well as impunity for members of the security forces. The government mounted sustained attacks on the right to freedom of expression of the media and political opposition. Labor union activists protesting for higher wages were systematically targeted and, in some cases, arrested and jailed on trumped-up charges.

[5] Police has killed another person in Pabna today’s early in the morning. The killed identified as Igibar (35). According to the human rights organizations reports on extra judicial killings, 396 people have been killed in 2005, 355 people have been killed in 2005, 184 people have been killed in 2007, 149 people have been killed in 2008, 229 people have been killed in 2009, 133 people have been killed in 2010 and at least 15 people have been killed in this year in extra judicially by the law enforcers. Though, according to a secret source, over 8,000 people have been killed only by RAB in extra judicially (in the name of so-called crossfire, encounter, gunfight) and by secret murders, disappeared since 2004.Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Bangladesh Dr Mizanur Rahman has said all extrajudicial killings should be investigated to bring the wrongdoers to justice.

[6] It is imperative for the new government, which came to power following elections on December 29, 2008, to take action to address past and ongoing violations through effective investigations and prosecutions. For such prosecutions to take place, the independence of the judiciary must now be ensured in practice, not simply in theory. Bangladesh must begin to cooperate in a meaningful and verifiable manner with the Council and its various mechanisms, notably its Special Procedures. In particular it must issue a standing invitation to all of the Council’s special procedures, and enable visits of all that have requests pending, without delay, giving priority to the Special Rapporteurs on extra-judicial killings, on theindependence of judges and lawyers, on the freedom of expression and on torture. The government must also take concrete steps to fulfill the voluntary pledges that it has made prior to its recent elections to the Council.

[7] The perpetrators include the police, the Rapid Action Battalion, the armed forces and other paramilitary forces. Not a single case has yet been investigated by any competent authority. Instead, the State Minister for Home Affairs, Mr. Tanjim Ahmad Sohel, who has authority over the law-enforcement agencies, stated to the press on 6 May that “. . . the government will not allow any kind of extra-judicial killings, but the law-enforcers have the right to self-defense as per the constitution . . .” The ALRC is concerned by the authorities continuing to provide blanket justifications for killings that, allied with the lack of investigations into such cases, engenders impunity and further abuses.

[9] . The chiefs of the battalion and the metropolitan police assured the commission of conducting impartial inquiries into each of the incidents and taking appropriate steps to stop the recurrence of the incidents, he said. Asked whether the commission would conduct any inquiry into the recent three incidents of killings allegedly in custody in the city, Mizanur said the High Court on Monday ordered an independent inquiry into the incidents.

[10] The government neither has any hand in it nor does it patronize it. If there is any allegation against any death, the government takes steps and investigate it,” Dipu Moni told a press briefing.