As many as 413 people have been killed in alleged shootouts with the law enforcing agencies in nine months, rights group Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) said in a report.
The ASK report, published on Sunday (Sept 30), also said that 260 of them were killed since May 4 during the ongoing anti-drug raids.
The report said, “The right to live and right to justice applies to all. The incidents of human rights violations in the past nine months have infuriated people.”
Referring to the death of Teknaf councillor Md Ekramul Haque in a ‘shootout’ reported on May 26, the rights group said, “His family released an audio clip at a media call on May 31 which raised questions regarding the law enforcers’ complicity in such killings.”
According to statistics presented in the report, among the 413 killed, 122 were killed in ‘shootouts’ with Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), 44 with the police’s Detective Branch (DB) ‘shootouts’ three in ‘crossfires’ with RAB and BGB, three in police custody, two in DB custody, four shot by police, three shot by DB and one shot by Ansar.
The report also said that three individuals committed suicide in police custody lockups. Thirty-three bullet-hit bodies were found. Three died after falling ill while in police custody and another in RAB custody. Two others died while undergoing treatment in police custody.
ASK report said citing allegations by the victims’ families and witnesses, 21 were detained by plain cloth people who claimed to be officers with the law enforcing agencies. Two among them returned to their families while 10 were shown arrest. However, the agencies refused detaining these people at first.