Ashutosh Sarkar

Although the government enacted a law to prevent torture and death in custody of different law enforcement agencies seven years ago, not many cases have been filed under the act.

Experts attribute the reason to lack of comprehensive campaign to make people aware of the law and fearing of the victims or their family members that the law enforcers would harm them.

The first-ever verdict in a case filed under the act is going to be delivered today.

The Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act-2013 was formulated as part of the country’s commitment to the Committee Against Torture, a UN body of which Bangladesh is a signatory, to prohibit torture or cruel, inhuman, degrading punishment or treatment to anyone in law enforcers’ custody and punish the perpetrators.

Law Minister Anisul Haque also highlighted the act as an effective edition to the existing laws in combating torture in custody while presenting a report to the United Nations Convention against Torture (UNCAT)in July-August 2019, Bangladesh’s first-ever since its ratification in 1998.

Experts and right activists said the spirit of the prevention of torture and custodial death law is undoubtedly good, but its implementation is not satisfactory as cases have hardly been filed and judgment is yet to be delivered under the act in the last seven years.

They made the remarks ahead of delivering judgment in such a case.

In January 2014, the case was filed with the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court of Dhaka against a former sub-inspector of Pallabi Police Station and four others over the custodial death of Ishtiaq Hossain Johnny.