A total of 1,862 cases were registered nationwide over deaths and injuries that occurred during the July mass uprising. In nearly two years, the police has submitted investigation reports only in 254 cases (13.64 percent). The investigation of the remaining 86.36 percent cases has not been completed yet.
Senior police officials say the police have faced various complications while investigating the cases registered over deaths and injuries that occurred during the 2024 mass insurgency. In most of the incidents, bodies were buried without post-mortem.
As a result, it is taking time to remove the bodies and obtain the post-mortem reports. If post-mortems had been conducted at the time of the incidents, the report would have recorded whether the victims died from gunshot wounds or stated the exact cause of death.
Now, since the investigations are being conducted long after the burial, it is not possible to determine with certainty the actual cause of death.
Further, the investigation has been delayed due to inconsistencies such as incorrect description of crime scenes in case statements, multiple cases being registered over the death of the same martyr citing different locations of the incident, and indiscriminate naming of a large number of accused persons in several cases.
Mohammad Abu Sufiyan, deputy inspector general (crime) at the police headquarters, told Prothom Alo that forensic reports are an important element in murder cases related to mass insurgency.
It is taking time for post mortem reports in murder cases to come. Many of the bodies were buried as unidentified persons. Unless their identity is established, it is also difficult to register and investigate cases related to their deaths.
These issues are creating complications. Moreover, completion of investigation in many cases is being delayed due to various errors, procedural complexities and lack of clear picture of the incidents.
According to the police headquarters, as of June 30, chargesheets had been submitted in only 199 of the 1,862 cases registered over deaths and injuries during the mass insurgency. Police submitted final reports in 55 cases after finding no evidence to support the allegations.
A total of 799 murder cases were registered in connection with the mass rebellion. Overall, 327,841 accused persons were named in these cases, including 65,210 named in the First Information Report (FIR) and 262,631 listed as suspects.
The cases are being investigated by police stations, Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Anti Terrorism Unit (ATU) and Detective Branch (DB).
Out of the murder cases, chargesheet has been filed in 63 cases in which evidence was found. After finding no involvement in the incidents, the police filed final reports in 37 cases. The total number of accused named in the chargesheet in these cases is 5,793.
The police headquarters also said that 1,063 cases were registered across the country over injuries sustained during the mass insurgency. A total of 282,879 accused are involved in these cases, including 89,121 named in the FIR and 193,758 listed as suspects.
After completion of investigation, reports have been submitted in 154 cases. Police filed charge sheets in 136 cases and final reports in 18 cases. The total number of accused named in these chargesheets is 10,202.
Even innocent people were made accused
During the 2024 July Movement, members of the law enforcement agencies fired indiscriminately at students and protesters. As a result, after the Awami League government was ousted in a mass uprising on 5 August, many police officers went into hiding.
At that time the entire police system had collapsed. Cases started being registered only after police stations gradually resumed functioning. However, due to lack of proper police surveillance during that period, many cases later came under investigation.
Many innocent people were made accused due to personal enmity, business disputes, political vendetta, extortion, harassment and malice. In many cases, influential political leaders in the localities concerned determined who would be named as accused in the cases.
The practice of indiscriminately naming accused persons became so widespread that the Home Ministry issued a warning notice on 14 October 2024. It directed the concerned authorities to take legal action against those filing such cases for ulterior motives.
The government and the police have also repeatedly said that no action will be taken against those who have been accused merely to harass them. The Police Headquarters constituted a Special Monitoring Team to monitor the investigation of cases related to the July Mass Uprising.
comprehensive prosecution
On 5 August 2024, college student Rita Akhtar (17) was shot in front of Mirpur Shopping Complex adjacent to Mirpur Model Police Station in Dhaka. He later died of his injuries.
In the case registered regarding the incident, 395 people including ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, ministers and police personnel were made accused. The list also includes businessman Afroz Uddin of Muktabangla Shopping Complex, Mirpur-1, and Qazi Joynal, resident of Block D under Shah Ali police station.
Businessman Afroz Uddin told Prothom Alo that he has been falsely implicated because he refused to withdraw the murder case over his brother’s murder.
In 2005, his elder brother, businessman Aftab Uddin, was shot dead by notorious criminals led by top-listed criminal Shahadat over extortion demand. According to Afroz Uddin, the accused in that murder case had implicated him in the Rita murder case.
The complainant in the case, Rita’s father Ashraf Ali, is a rickshaw puller by profession. At the time of the incident, he lived in Mirpur Section 2. Now he lives in his ancestral home in Kalai, Joypurhat.
“The BNP people were at the police station. They prepared a list of the accused. They asked me to sign it and I signed it. I can’t say exactly how many people have been accused,” he told Prothom Alo.
Asked if he knew Afroz Uddin or Qazi Joynal, whose names figure in the list of the accused, Ashraf Ali said, “How will I identify them? The BNP people gave me some money, and they were the ones who put the names in the case. In the end both innocent and guilty people were included. I want to testify in the court to save those who are innocent.”
The case is being investigated by the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI). Several police officers involved in the investigation said that no evidence had been found linking Afroz Uddin to the murder.
Since a large number of accused, including police officers, are involved in the case, it is taking time to complete the investigation and file the charge sheet. He said that those found not to be involved, including Afroz Uddin, would be recommended for discharge.
Additional Inspector General of Police Khondkar Rafiqul Islam, who is overseeing the investigation into the July uprising cases, told Prothom Alo that leaders of the anti-discrimination student movement had previously provided much information about the killings. However, now they are not ready to speak. As a result, it has become difficult to collect evidence and testify when investigating murder cases.
The senior police officer further said that, in some cases, separate cases were registered in three different police stations over the murder of the same person by referring to three different crime scenes and naming the accused persons indiscriminately.
There are many cases in which people have filed complaints claiming to be the brother or relative of the victim. Such matters have also become a means of business. In several investigations, the police did not find any connection between the complainant and the deceased. Final reports have been filed in such false cases.
Information is not protected
According to police headquarters sources, most of the cases were registered regarding deaths and injuries that occurred on July 19 and August 4-5, 2024. On July 19, more than 150 people were killed in Dhaka and several other districts.
After this, on August 4, there were massive casualties and on August 5, Sheikh Hasina had to leave the country. During those intense days of the movement, neither hospitals, nor the police, nor any other authority properly preserved information about where bodies were taken, where they were buried, or who died during treatment and under what circumstances.
So far, the government has published a gazette listing the names of 836 martyrs of the July mass insurgency. Till date 799 murder cases have been registered. This has also raised questions about how justice will be administered for the remaining deaths.
Officials involved in the investigation at the police headquarters said that many of the people martyred during the movement have not been identified yet. Additionally, some names included in the official gazette require further verification.
For these reasons, murder cases have not been registered in every death. However, once the exact cause of death is confirmed and the identity of the martyrs is established, the police can also initiate cases in those incidents.
Human rights activist Noor Khan told Prothom Alo that he had gone to hospitals to register the names of those killed and injured by 5 August 2024. At that time, the police, intelligence agencies and Awami League members had confiscated his documents.
At the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, he observed that many physicians were being prevented from treating the injured under the influence of the police, intelligence agencies and ruling party workers.
He said that when people suffering bullet injuries died on the way to hospital, the same people prepared investigation reports or arranged for the burial of bodies as unidentified persons without conducting post-mortems. The bodies were not even handed over to their families.
Most of the hospital records relating to the dead and injured were destroyed. Although it was possible to identify bodies through fingerprinting, it was not done properly.
After August 5, criminal groups also took advantage of the situation by indiscriminately naming many innocent people as accused in many cases and engaging in case-related extortion. As a result, investigations have become more complex.
Six verdicts by the International Criminal Tribunal
Nearly two and a half months after the fall of the Awami League government in a mass uprising, the interim government reconstituted the International Criminal Tribunal on 14 October 2024.
To speed up the judicial process, a second tribunal was established on May 8 last year. Over the past 19 months, both tribunals have delivered verdicts in six cases related to crimes against humanity, through July.
An analysis of the six verdicts shows that of the 61 convicted persons, 40 are absconders, while 21 are in jail. Of the 11 former police officers awarded death sentence, 7 are absconding and 4 are in jail.
Those who have largely survived include former Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner Habibur Rahman; Former DMP Joint Commissioner Sudeep Kumar Chakraborty; Shah Alam Mohammad Akhtarul Islam, former additional deputy commissioner of Ramna division; AFM Sayeed, former officer-in-charge of Ashulia police station; Former assistant sub-inspector Vishwajeet Saha; Mohammad Rashedul Islam, former additional deputy commissioner of Khilgaon division; and Mohammad Mashiur Rahman, former officer-in-charge of Rampura police station. Prothom Alo published a detailed report on the matter on 3 July.
It is necessary to complete the investigation quickly
When asked about the case, former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Abdul Kaiyum told Prothom Alo that many innocent people have been harassed after being indiscriminately named as accused in several cases registered over mass insurgency.
There have also been allegations that these cases have become a means of illegal financial gain. He said that it is necessary to form committees at the metropolitan and district level, keep the investigation under their supervision, set time limits and complete the investigation without delay.
The police should be instructed not to include anyone in the chargesheet without solid evidence and should be kept free from lobbying and political influence. To ensure this, the police should be given independent powers. Police report should be submitted against the accused only on the basis of available evidence.