Correction centre officials involved in killing 3 juvenile prisoners: Probe report

Officers at the Jashore Juvenile Correction Centre were involved in the killing of three juvenile prisoners, says the two-member probe committee formed by the Department of Social Services to investigate the matter. 

Both members of the probe committee returned to Dhaka on Tuesday and filed the probe report on Thursday. 

Director (institution) of the Department of Social Services Syed Nurul Basir has already submitted the probe report to the Director General Sheikh Rafikul Islam.

He said that the probe committee found evidence of the involvement of the accused officers in the incident. 

Meanwhile, another three-member probe committee asked for three additional days from the Department of Social Services. They also filed an application at court seeking permission to talk to the accused officers of the correction centre. 

Jashore's Judicial Magistrate Saifuddin Hussain accepted the application and gave both probe committees permission to talk to the accused, head of the probe committee and Jashore's Additional District Magistrate Muhammad Abdul Laich told The Business Standard. 

Both of the probe committees will be able to talk to the accused officers on August 21, 22 and 23. 

CCTV footages of the incident were removed

Sources at the police said, one of the juvenile prisoners died in the afternoon of August 13, the day of the incident. The officials did not take him to the hospital and left his body on the field. They were making plans to handle (cover-up) the incident. 

Removing the CCTV footages of the incident was part of their plan. They also threatened other prisoners so that they don't talk to anyone about the incident. 

They also hid the sticks, cricket wicket, plastic pipe, wood and other instruments used to beat the juvenile prisoners. Police, however, recovered some of the instruments by raiding the place. They were also able to find some of the footages from the CCTV camera. 

Investigating officer of the case Inspector Rokibuzzaman said, "Remand of the accused has already been concluded. We obtained important information from them." 

So far, there are 13 accused in the case. 

What happened in the Jashore Juvenile Correction Centre

Earlier on August 3, Nur Islam, the head of security of the centre, asked the teenage prisoner Hridoy – who is an expert barber – to cut his hair. Hridoy refused to do so as his hands were aching because he had cut the hair of two hundred prisoners before Eid. 

Angered by this, Nur Islam complained to Abdullah Al Masood, the caretaker of the centre, and Masum Billah, the assistant caretaker, that the youths were intoxicated after having drugs. He also hinted at an immoral relationship between Hridoy and his friend Pavel. 

Nahid, a teenager who was present there, heard the allegations and informed Pavel about the matter. 

Enraged, Pavel and some of his followers beat up Nur Islam and broke his arm. 

The tragic incident of August 13 originated from this incident.

A meeting was held on August 13 at the centre on the occasion of National Mourning Day where 19 officers and employees were present. The meeting decided to "punish those who attacked Nur Islam".

As per the decision of the meeting, 13 identified attackers and a few others were brought out. Under the leadership of those five officers, a few employees and seven-eight juvenile prisoners started beating-up the "accused".

A towel was inserted in their mouth and their hands were pulled out through the window and they were beaten on the back. Reckless beatings were carried out with iron rods, cricket stumps, etc. When they became unconscious, the beating stopped but when they regained consciousness, they were beaten again.

They were left in a room with serious injuries after being beaten several times. Although they were given a little treatment by a compounder, they were left there for about six hours without being sent to a hospital. The condition of one of them was critical and he was rushed to the hospital at around 6.30pm.

After receiving the news from the hospital, the deputy commissioner, superintendent of police, civil surgeon and other officials went there and saw an indescribable scene.