Govt ordered to explain killings

Dhaka, Nov 17 (bdnews24.com) – The High Court has given the government and Rapid Action Battalion 48 hours to explain the shooting and killing of two brothers in Madaripur, asking why the deaths should not be ruled extra-judicial.

Brothers Lutfor Khalashi, 40, and Khairul Khalashi, 38, both alleged to be extremists, were killed in what RAB said was "an exchange of gunfire" in Madaripur early on Monday.

The deaths were reported just 36 hours after family members voiced fears that the two might be killed in custody.

The bench of justices AFM Abdur Rahman and Imdadul Haque Azad issued a suo moto rule on the home secretary, director general of RAB and two others on Tuesday following media accounts of the deaths.

Deputy attorney general Kazi Md Izarul Haque Akhand told bdnews24.com after the ruling: "The High Court has issued the suo moto rule following a newspaper report."

Media widely reported that Bablu Khalashi, son of Lutfor, had held a news conference last Saturday saying his father and uncle were arrested from Jatrapur in Narayanganj district on Friday night.

He said the family feared they might be killed in "crossfire".

The family also claims a third brother was killed earlier in a similar incident.

Meanwhile, human-rights organisations have been expressing concern over the rate of extra-judicial killings in the country though the government claims that no such killings are taking place.

The government says law enforcers only fire weapons in defence, and deaths by shooting occur only where the suspect is armed and exchange of gunfire takes place.

Such incidents are often referred to as "crossfire" killings in the media and common parlance, a term that has come to imply suspicious, or extra-judicial, killings.

The High Court on June 29 ordered the government to explain why killings without trial in so-called "crossfire" should not be declared illegal.

It also asked why departmental and criminal actions should not be taken against those who perpetrate such killings of suspects in custody or others.

RAB has said around over 570 people have been killed in encounter/shootout incidents with the elite force around the country in the five years since its formation in 2004.

According to rights group Odhikar, 322 people were killed in "crossfire/encounter/shootout" incidents during the two years of the past caretaker government.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina herself announced in February this year that the extra judicial killings perpetrated during the tenure of the military-installed interim government would be investigated.

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