Int'l Crimes Tribunal seeks names of officials who served at police hq during Jul-Aug uprising
The tribunal said it is necessary to get the information of these officials for the sake of fair and proper investigation of the cases filed with the ICT
The International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) has sought the names of officials who served at the police headquarters and the police operations department during the student-led mass uprising in July-August.
In a letter sent to the Bangladesh Police on 6 October, the tribunal said it is necessary to get the information of these officials for the sake of fair and proper investigation of the cases filed with the ICT.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operations) Md Israil Howladar confirmed receiving the letter and said preliminary work has already started in this regard.
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According to police sources, after receiving the letter, the police headquarters prepared its own list and sent it to the metropolitan police and range offices. The offices have already started listing the members who were in charge of police operations across the country during the student movement.
Several cases have already been filed with the ICT, under the International Criminal Tribunal Act 1973, against dozens of people, including the ousted prime minister, terming the deaths during the student movement as "genocide".
According to the letter, law enforcers and ruling party armed persons have committed murder, genocide, detention, torture, looting, arson and crimes against humanity to suppress the student movement.
Speaking to The Business Standard in this regard, former inspector general of police Muhammad Nurul Huda said, "There are specific policies on how police officials should perform their duties. Police are not bound to listen to unlawful orders of superiors. There are laws that give police officials such freedom."
