Former deputy attorney general Momtaj Uddin Ahmed, who was allegedly tortured after being arrested on August 11, died at Square Hospital in police custody Friday afternoon.
His widow, Selina Ahmed, sued home minister Sahara Khatun, attorney general Mahbubey Alam, home secretary, Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner, detective branch deputy commissioner and Shahbagh police officer-in-charge on charge of killing the Supreme Court lawyer.
A group of lawyers, led by Supreme Court Bar Association president Khandker Mahbub Hossain, submitted the first information report, signed by Selina, to the Ramna police at about 10:30pm.
Ramna police sub-inspector Altaf Hossain, also the duty officer, told New Age, 'We have received the complaint, but a decision has not yet been made whether it would be recorded as a regular case or a general diary, as the officer-in-charge is out of the office.'
Khandker Mahbub, however, said, 'Selina Ahmed filed a case on murder charge...We have submitted the FIR and the police have given us a copy after receiving it.'
Selina filed the FIR accusing the home minister, attorney general and four others of killing her husband in a planned way, Mahbub said adding, 'Now she wants justice.'
As the news spread, several hundred lawyers and activists of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party went out on demonstrations in front of Square Hospital and on the Supreme Court premises describing his death in custody as a 'planned murder.'
The leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia, also BNP chairperson, senior party leaders and senior Supreme Court lawyers condemned MU Ahmed's death in custody and called it a 'premeditated murder'.
The angry protesters also chased attorney general Mahbubey Alam when he went to the hospital after hearing the news. They jeered at him shouting 'killer'. Large contingents of police in riot gear were deployed inside the hospital after he went in.
The BNP has announced countrywide demonstrations wearing black badges for today.
MU Ahmed, who was admitted to the hospital on August 16, breathed his last at around 1:10pm on Friday. Before being admitted to Square Hospital, he underwent treatment at National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in custody.
Within hours after his arrest on August 11, MU Ahmed fell sick at the office of the detective branch police and taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital but physicians there referred him to NICVD.
The chief security officer of Square Hospital, Golam Mawla said MU Ahmed was admitted to the hospital at around 11:00pm on August 16 under police custody. He was under supervision of medicine specialist Abdullah Al Jamil.
Talking to newsmen at Square Hospital, Ahmed's widow, Selina Ahmed, said whenever she had wanted to know about the reported torture in custody, he asked her not to speak about it fearing that they would torture him again. 'At NICVD he often got frightened at the sight of policemen,' she said.
Ahmed's nephew Iliyas Ahmed said the lawyer's hands and legs were tied up before being taken to Square Hospital. His brother Mainul Ahmed said he was not even slightly ill before being arrested.
Senior jurist Rafique-ul Huq demanded a judicial inquiry into the death of the former deputy attorney general. 'It is a death in police custody. It should be probed by a judicial inquiry led by a retired Supreme Court judge,' he said.
'The death might be a part of the ongoing extrajudicial killings and other unnatural deaths. It has to be investigated properly,' he said.
BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed termed it a 'planned killing'.
The Supreme Court Bar Association president, Khandakar Mahbub Hossain, said the killing was a part of the government's 'attempt' to 'silence' any voice of protest. 'The government, home minister, state minister for law, attorney general, police inspector general and DMP commissioner have to take the responsibility for the death,' he said.
'The Supreme Court failed to carry out its constitutional obligation at the death. His family and lawyers will sue the persons responsible for his death,' he said.
Mahbub accused the attorney general of attempting to doctor the inquest report. 'The court had instructed him to take measures for proper treatment of MU Ahmed but he did nothing. Today he came to see the body and sat by it for two hours and dictated the magistrate to prepare an inquest report. None of us was allowed there. We suspect the inquest report would not mention the marks of electric shock that his body bore,' he said.
The detective branch police in a hurriedly arranged briefing claimed that MU Ahmed was not in custody and had been on bail since August 16. 'He was in our custody for only 30 minutes on August 11. We did not torture him rather took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital after he complained of chest pain,' said Monirul Islam, deputy commissioner of DB police.
'His wife had appealed to us for leaving him in her custody and we granted him bail on August 16 and informed the court about the matter. Since then he was under treatment at Square Hospital in her wife's custody. We have all the documents…,' he said.
'Before arresting him, we did not know he was suffering from cardiac disorder,' he said.
Ahmed's body was handed over to the family at around 7:00pm and it was taken to BIRDEM mortuary. His first namaj-e-janaza will be held at the High Court ground at 11:00am today and then the body will be taken to the BNP's central office at Naya Paltan.
He will be buried at his family graveyard at village Baliyakandi of Sherpur in Bogra, said his widow.
Ahmed is survived by his widow and two sons – SM Shubho, 11, and SA Babu, 9.
Meanwhile, 250 teachers of Dhaka University in a statement condemned the death of MU Ahmed in custody and demanded exemplary punishment for the persons responsible.
Sadrul Amin, Aminur Rahman Majumder, M Sirajul Islam, Tazmeri SA Islam, Akhtar Hossain Khan, Shahida Rafique and Dil Rawshan Zinnat Ara Naznin were among the signatories.
Source : New Age
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