The policemen on duty panicked and shot into the crowd, killing seven. Order was restored only after the army was called in to quell the people's revolt against the police. The police do not seem to have learnt a lesson. In the last six months, of the 478 cases registered in police stations around the country, the law enforcers are the accused in 47 cases. In 1995, police were the alleged rapists in 39 cases, seven of which took place inside a police station, rights activists here say.
Women are routinely raped in police custody, but most incidents remain unreported, they claim.
The Bangladesh Human Rights Commission says 32 detainees were tortured to death in police custody between July 1996 and June this year. The US state department in its 1996 country report on human rights practices lauded the role of the judiciary in Bangladesh. But the report was critical of the police action saying although the Constitution prohibits torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, police routinely employ psychological and physical torture and other abuses.