The High Court (HC) on Sunday reprimanded a police officer for recording a confessional statement by using force from a minor boy who was charged with the murder of his eight-year-old brother in Bogura in 2015.
Lawyers said the court could not be satisfied with the explanation from Nayan Kumar, then the investigation officer (IO) and sub-inspector at Sariakandi Police Station in Bogura.
"He (Nayan Kumar) had committed a serious crime by doing it (forcibly taking confessional statement). He had done so quite deliberately. It’s not just an act of negligence," observed the High Court bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Md Atoar Rahman.
“Is it believable that a minor would kill his younger brother?”
Deputy Attorney General Sarwar Hossain, appearing for the state, requested the court to consider it as a mistake since, he argued, the police officer is part of the prosecution. The court said he did it with a motive.
On August 25, 2015, the body of an 8-year-old minor was recovered and a day after, his father Mahidul (single name) filed a case with the Sariakandi police station.
The police, on November 29, detained the deceased’s brother, a 12-year-old minor, for questioning. The next day, on November 30, the boy was also produced before the Bogura Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court.
Following a petition by five Supreme Court lawyers recently, the High Court fixed August 11 the date for the hearing and then summoned Nayan Kumar, the former IO, and current IO Mansur Ali to be present during the hearing on Sunday (August 22).
The murder case is now being investigated by the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), Bogura office, where Mansur Ali is posted.
Advocate Shishir Monir, the petitioners’ lawyer, said the police officer Kumar appeared before the court and also sought an unconstitutional apology.
However, the court did not accept his written explanation and an order is likely to be issued on this during the next hearing on September 6.
The court asked the bench officer to collect a photocopy of the case documents from the IO Mansur Ali and to place it before the judges in the next hearing, the lawyer said.