The police are involved in more extrajudicial killings than the Rapid Action Battalion, found a report by the Centre for Governance Studies.

The CGS, a think tank conducting research and media studies on governance issues, analysed cases between 2019 and 2021, and released these figures yesterday at a virtual discussion titled “Executions at Will?”.

“The police, including DB, were involved with a majority of the cases over the last three years – 51.24 percent,” said Ali Riaz, distinguished professor of political science at Illinois State University, while sharing the findings.

“The Rapid Action Battalion was involved in 28.8 percent of the cases.”

The total number of extrajudicial killings was 562. Others were in the hands of other agencies, including Border Guard Bangladesh.

The number of extrajudicial killings in Cox’s Bazar is astronomically higher than that of the rest of the country, found the report.

Between 2019 and 2021, Cox’s Bazar district alone saw 238 cases of extrajudicial killings. Compared to that, the rest of the country saw 353 extrajudicial deaths.

The second highest death toll was in Dhaka with 58 deaths, followed by Chattogram’s 30.

Eminent jurist Shahdeen Malik pointed out that since the US imposed sanctions on Rab, only two extrajudicial killings have taken place.

“There are indications that the US sanctions have brought a respite in the extrajudicial killings since December 10. But temporary pause is not a solution to the practices and culture of impunity…,” said the report.

“The government should appoint an independent commission with members from the government, representatives of national and international human rights organisations, members of civil society and journalists to investigate each alleged incident of extrajudicial killings of the past decade and bring perpetrators to book,” it recommended.

The National Human Rights Commission must be empowered to investigate law enforcement agencies, said Riaz.

Alena Khan, CEO of Bangladesh Human Rights Foundation, said, “When there is a gunfight, why are there no casualties of bystanders? Why are there no signs of a gunfight having taken place in or around the area?”

Malik said, “Why do we not investigate why it was not possible to just shoot in the leg and injure instead of killing?”

report in The Daily Star,Mar 13, 202

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/extrajudicial-killings-police-more-involved-rab-2981416