Protest coordinators: Detention by DB unconstitutional

The Detective Branch’s picking up of key coordinators of the quota reform protest “for the sake of security” is unconstitutional, said two legal experts and an academician.
They heavily criticised the move while talking to The Daily Star. However, a Supreme Court lawyer said such move could be made “considering the prevailing situation”.
The DB picked up six coordinators of quota reform protest, including Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud, over the last three days.
At a press briefing at the DB headquarters yesterday, its chief Harun-or-Rashid said they took the coordinators into their custody “to prevent any harm to students or the protest”, reports UNB.
ZI Khan Panna, a Supreme Court lawyer, said according to the Appellate Division’s guidelines in detention and remand-related cases, if anybody is detained or arrested, he or she must be informed about the reason within three hours of detention.
Their nominated lawyers and parents must be allowed to meet them and be produced before the nearby magistrate’s court within 24 hours after the detention, he said.
“The law enforcers kept protesting students detained in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines and the relevant provisions of the law and constitution,” said Panna, also a human rights activist.
Jyotirmoy Barua, another SC lawyer, said there are no laws in the country under which anyone can be arbitrarily picked up.
“There is no terminology for picking up someone to provide security. Picking up someone is abduction, and abduction is a criminal offence. If they [police] want to arrest anyone, they have to comply with the directives of the Supreme Court.”
“Only police can arrest someone who is specifically accused in any case or has a warrant or anyone who is a deserter from any force, or is on the run in any case, or an accused of any criminal charges. Except for police, no force has the legal jurisdiction to arrest anyone in any way,” he said.
He said there is no law to keep anyone confined to a jail for over 24 hours.
In 2009, the High Court said section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is contradictory to fundamental rights and amended it with 15 directives, mentioning that if police want to arrest anyone on suspicion, they must explain the reason in writing, said the legal expert.
“When police go for any arrest, they will tell the family members from which police station they have come and ask them if they want to talk to any lawyers,” Jyotirmoy said.
Plainclothes police now pick up anyone and subsequently deny family members from any contact with them, he added.
“We never heard that people were picked up to provide them with security. This is a kind of fallacy. This is a criminal offence.”
Veteran SC lawyer and former law minister Shafique Ahmed said the reasons behind such confinement must be known specifically and the protesters could go to the High Court for necessary remedy if they are not satisfied with the reason.
However, senior SC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said the protesters have reportedly been taken into safe custody amid the prevailing situation, which is not illegal or unconstitutional.
“They were not detained or arrested in any case and therefore, there is no need to produce them before any magistrate,” he said.
Rushad Faridi, an assistant professor of Dhaka University’s economics department, found the DB’s rationale for picking them up ridiculous.
“One, who needs security, and his family will decide where he or she will stay for their safety. No force can decide it. What type of security is it to pick up someone who is undergoing treatment at a hospital without the permission of the person and their family?”
“They [government] want to create a reign of terror. It indicates that the authorities will no longer tolerate any such protest in future.”