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Innocent yet tortured

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
On November 18, barely 16-year-old Mohammad Swapan was standing in front of their house at Shahinbagh in the city's Tejgaon area when a team of joint forces arrived there in a pickup van. Swapan said he was blindfolded and taken to the army camp in the Sangsad Bhaban area. He did not know what was his crime.
Swapan was confined to the army camp for four days. Every night, six or seven people beat him with iron rod and baton. On several occasions, he was also given electric shocks. They wanted information on illegal arms although he knew nothing about it, he told this correspondent.
After four days, a seriously ill Swapan was handed over to the Tejgaon Police Station. Police officials said the boy needed nine bags of blood immediately. As they did not know anything about his parents or relatives, a police official paid for the blood from his own pocket.
His sister Jhuma said the family thinks the 'army' picked up Swapan as he had an altercation with another restaurant owner having links with officials of the civil aviation authorities.
Jhuma further said they did not know Swapan's whereabouts for five days and thought he was 'dead'.
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"Later, a sub-inspector from the Tejgaon Police Station came to our house and told us Swapan was hospitalised with serious injuries," Jhuma said.
On Monday, Swapan lay at the Green Unit of AB Ward of the National Orthopaedic Hospital (Pangu Hospital) with grievous injuries in his legs and hands. He could not even move his arms and legs. A policeman lazed on the verandah to keep watch on the 'suspect'.
Swapan does not know whether he would ever be able to go back to his small restaurant near their house. After the death of his father, an air force employee in the medical corps, he had given up his studies in search of livelihood. His restaurant helped the family survive.
To add to his sufferings, the hospital authorities asked Swapan to leave the hospital saying that his injuries would take a long time to heal and 'home would be the best place for it'. Tejgaon police who are to take him into custody from the hospital have so far refused to do so, saying that the boy is too ill to be shifted.
"We are still not sure if he would survive. The hospital authorities have discharged him because he failed to pay for his treatment. He
needs an operation in his hand urgently," said a police official requesting anonymity.
A doctor at the hospital said Swapan suffered 'multiple abrasions' all over his body, which is known as 'blunt trauma'. He needed thorough 'skin drafting'.
"He was discharged because this sort of blunt trauma takes a long time to heal and rush of patients is very high at the hospital," he said.
As Swapan talked to this correspondent at the Green Unit on Monday, a group of policemen arrived there. The on-duty nurse said Swapan had just been discharged from the hospital. The official who led the police team had a closer look at the injuries of the boy and said, "How could one with such injuries be discharged from hospital. We cannot take him." The policemen then walked off the hospital.
Meanwhile, police confirmed that Swapan is not a criminal wanted by them.
One source said someone working in the civil aviation authority managed to get the boy arrested with a motive. Later, two cases were filed against him -- one for a scuffle and the other for 'possessing' a knife. The charges against him are baseless, the source added.