Constable claims former officer ordered corpses to be covered during July Uprising

Constable Rashedul says Ashulia police chief gave him the order

A police constable has revealed in court that he was ordered by the chief of Ashulia Police to “cover the bodies” of several victims with banners during the July-August protests.

The testimony was given by Constable Rashedul Islam, 46, on Tuesday at the International Criminal Tribunal-2, in connection with the case of six bodies being burned in Ashulia.

The tribunal, led by Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, recorded his statement.

Rashedul, a driver constable at Ashulia Police Station, said he was not on duty that day and was on the fourth floor of the police station building.

He added that between 4:00pm and 4:30pm, he noticed a commotion from the station window, followed by the sound of gunfire. Feeling unsafe, he descended to the ground floor, where he saw a pile of bodies in a van near the station's main gate.

Rashedul said, “Ashulia's former OC [officer-in-charge] Syed said ‘Rashed, your hands are empty, cover the bodies’.”

He then used a blue banner to cover the corpses, accompanied by Inspector Masudur Rahman, Inspector Nirmal Kumar Das, ASI Bishwajit, Constable Mukul Chokdar, and DB Inspector Arafat, he added.

Rashedul also described taking refuge in an eight-story building on the west side of the station for about an hour. There, he asked a boy from Jamalpur to lend him a Punjabi and cap. Disguised, he then stayed at a friend's house in Jamgora. Later, he learned that the bodies had been loaded into a police vehicle and burned.

Rashedul, the 12th witness in this case, hails from Medur West Para village in Sarishabari, Jamalpur.