3-year jail term upheld for former OC Helal
NTV Online
Dhaka: A court in Dhaka on Wednesday upheld a lower court verdict that had sentenced former Khilgaon police officer-in-charge Helal Uddin to three years of imprisonment for torturing a Dhaka University student in police custody.
Judge of the 5th Additional District and Sessions Judge’s Court Jahidul Kabir passed the order, reported UNB.
Earlier on July 21, the court fixed July 27 for delivering its verdict on the appeal filed by former OC Helal after closing the arguments of both sides.
On May 17, 2015, a Dhaka court sentenced Helal to three years’ imprisonment for torturing Kader.
The court also fined him Tk 10,000, in default, to suffer three months more in jail. Besides, it issued a warrant for his arrest as he was tried in absentia.
On May 31, 2015, he surrendered before the court and sought bail but the court sent him to jail rejecting his bail plea.
According to the case statement, a team of plainclothes police from the Khilgaon Police hit Kader with sticks at Segunbagicha in the early hours of July 16, 2011 while he was returning to his dormitory, Fazlul Huq Hall, from a relative’s house at Eskaton.
The then OC Helal Uddin took him to his room and forced him to admit to various crimes he had never committed. He also caused injuries to his back, legs and other parts of his body.
At one stage, the Helal hit him with a sharp machete causing wounds to his left leg.
Later, police filed two cases against him—one for robbery and another for possession of an illegal firearm—with the police station while he was shown arrested in another false case filed with Mohammadpur Police Station for carjacking.
Teachers and students of DU and people from different walks of life reacted sharply to the police torture on Kader, then a Master’s Degree student of Biochemistry.
Kader was freed on bail on August 3, 2011 after 18 days of his detention. Later, a court acquitted him from the charges.
On January 23, 2012, Kader filed a case with Khilgaon Police Station against its former OC Helal Uddin for torturing him.
On March 26 the same year, police submitted chargesheet before the court against OC Helal in the case.