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Girl abused in police club

Cops assault prying journalists, lawyers

Staff Correspondent
Two sub-inspectors assaulted and harassed a teenaged girl, her father and mother in the Police Club next door to the Dhaka magistrate' s court yesterday. The two cops detained them and confined the 15-year-old to a separate room and sexually assaulted her.
Her ordeal did not stop there. She was assaulted again while she was talking to journalists after getting away from the club courtesy of a superior police officer's intervention.
While she was talking to journalists, police charged truncheons on her, her family, journalists and lawyers present there. Six journalists, including Prothom Alo correspondent Prashanta Kumar Karmaker, Kaier Kantha correspondent MA Jalil Ujjal and Bangladesh Pratidin correspondent Tuhin Howlader, were injured along with four lawyers.
Police then picked up the girl, her father, mother and two lawyers and took them to Kotwali Police Station for no apparent reason.
Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) in the evening took the family into its custody. It sent the father to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment.
Sub-Inspector Zaman was closed to Rajarbagh Police Lines in connection with taking part in the assault on the girl, said Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Lalbagh division Harun-ur-Rashid.
Sources said the girl and her parents went to the magistrate's court yesterday on her father's motorbike around noon to file a case against her husband in connection with torturing her for dowry.
As they were entering the court premises, two subinspectors of Kotwali Police Station—SI Zaman and SI Jahangir—stopped them at the gate. The officers claimed that the bike was a stolen one and there was a case against the father.
They seized the keys of the bike. The father refuted the police claim and protested their action.
As the girl's father protested, the two policemen beat him up and took him inside the Police Club near the gate of the court.
When the girl protested the police action against her father, police took the girl and her mother inside the club as well.
After she was let go from the club, the girl went in front of the court around 3:30pm and told lawyers and journalists what had happened and sought their help.
She said the policemen took her to a different room where they hugged her from behind, kissed her on the neck and touched her inappropriately despite her vigorous protests and attempts to get away from them.
She said a senior officer discovered what was going on, rescued her and her parents and ensured safe passage for them out of the club.
Court correspondents of media houses were listening to what she had to say about the incident when the law enforcers swooped on the newsmen and lawyers. They charged truncheons on them allegedly on the directives of Salauddin Khan, officer-in-charge of Kotwali Police Station, and Assistant Commissioner Rajib Al Masud, sources claimed.
The police assault left six newsmen and four lawyers injured.
Police also picked up lawyers Shakhawat Hossain Taslim and Rajib alias Raju along with the family.
Sultana Kamal told The Daily Star over telephone that the girl and her parents had been taken into the custody of Ain-O-Salish Kendra from the police station.
She said the family might file a case in this connection and if it chooses to, ASK would provide it with legal assistance.
The girl's father was given first aid at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
POLICE PROBE BODY
Deputy Commissioner Harun-ur-Rashid said he had formed a committee with Additional Deputy Commissioner Maruf Hossain and Assistant Commissioner Rajib AI Masud to probe the incident. The committee was asked to submit a report in 24 hours.
Interestingly, Assistant Commissioner Rajib Al Masud reportedly led the truncheon charge on the family, newsmen and lawyers in front of the court yesterday.
The four-hour-long harassment of the family, especially of the teenaged girl, and the attack on lawyers and journalists sparked anger among those present at the court.
It may be recalled that on March 10, 1998, four-year-old Tania was raped inside the police control room adjacent to the courtroom of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka.