Ordeal of a Jessore shopkeeper

THE ordeal of a Jessore shopkeeper in the hands of the police which appeared in this newspaper on Friday makes very pathetic reading. It reveals yet another instance of police brutality and their proclivity to justify their actions by taking people to court on false charges.

Reportedly, Kamal a shopkeeper from Jessore, who does not belong to any political party, fell victim of police action on a BNP-led political programme in front of Jessore Press Club on October 1. The police fell upon him when he was closing the shutters of his shop and shot him in the chest at a point blank range.

Police scorn for common men was taken to the extreme when they made him pay for the travel costs of the police personnel who accompanied him to Dhaka and back for treatment. Not only that, Kamal has not been released as yet even after being granted bail, the unfortunate man now faces at least two charges of 'assaulting police and spreading terror'.

We are afraid Kamal's may be another Limon case in the offing. Apparently, efforts are underway to link him with the BNP and thus 'prove' his 'culpability' in the said charges. We want to ask whether ones affiliation to an opposition political party makes one a fair game for the police to treat one as it likes with impunity.

We would like to draw the attention of the law enforcing agencies to the comments of the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission regarding their scant regard for human rights and ask them to take it seriously.