Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK),
FORUM-ASIA member in Bangladesh, questioned the government for trying
the perpetrators of the Pilkhana killing under Army Act. The
organisation said, in the statement below issued on 28 May 2009, "We
want the culprits stand trial for the massacre, but at the same time we
want to see transparency in the trial process".
Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK),
FORUM-ASIA member in Bangladesh, questioned the government for trying
the perpetrators of the Pilkhana killing under Army Act. The
organisation said, in the statement below issued on 28 May 2009, "We
want the culprits stand trial for the massacre, but at the same time we
want to see transparency in the trial process".

Bangladeshi border guards have mutinied over pay and conditions. The
mutiny began at the headquarters of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in Pilkhana area of the capital on 25 March 2009, and spread around the country.
A number of people have been killed, including civilians.

For various reasons there is a sense of dissatisfaction prevailing in
the minds of many as the committee failed to ascertain the actual
motive behind such a heinous act after having worked for three long
months. Questions were raised from the very beginning about the
formation of the first investigation committee and due to that a new
committee was constituted headed by Mr. Anisuzzaman Khan, a retired
civil servant. The limited terms of reference given to the Committee
and the Committee's asking for extension of time for several times
again gave rise to various questions and doubts among the people in
general. Now that the Committee itself is admitting that due to
limitations it could not find the definite reason behind the massacre
surely the Committee's credibility may be called into question.

However, The Committee has made certain recommendations based on its
findings though it has not been able to detect the real reason and the
perpetrators behind the carnage. The first among them is that the
accused should be tried under the Army Act for speedy disposal of the
cases and to ensure exemplary punishment to the perpetrators. That is
where we have reasons to be concerned. We too are keen to see justice
is done in this atrocious act of crime and that the culprits are given
exemplary punishment. But at the same time we also want to see
transparency in the process and that the real reason comes out through
that process. Our motivation here to see justice prevails and that is
why, according to our opinion, the perpetrators should not be tried
under the Army Act. It may be mentioned here that according to Section
85 of the Army Act 1952, the General Court Martial constitutes of 5
members and Section 86 states that the District Court Martial
constitutes of 3 members, all of which are Army officers in service. It
is to be noted that on the one hand the Investigation Committee is
saying that one of the reasons behind the incident is 'mentality in the
BDR personnel the unwillingness to accept Army hegemony' and on the
other hand it is recommending a trial process where all the judges will
be from the same army. The prospect of fair trial, therefore, remains
highly questionable.

Moreover, as Section 133 of the Army Act states that no appeal shall
lie against the decision of the Court Martial, Article 31 of the
Constitution guaranteeing equality of all the citizens before law will
grossly be violated here.

At present it is the CID who are investigating the case under the
existing law of the land. Under this law every individual will only be
responsible for the act committed by him. But it is entirely different
from what is provided in Section 31 of the Army Act. There it is said
that even if an individual is not responsible for any particular act
but is supposed to have known about the occurrence and has not taken
adequate measure to inform the concerned higher authority would be held
equally responsible for that crime, the highest punishment for which is
death or whatever punishment is deemed to be just by the judges
concerned. As a human rights organisation our anxiety relates to the
question whether the accused under the Army Act will get fair justice.

The Pilkhana incident is no doubt a ruthless massacre which has
drowned the whole nation under the sea of mourning but the serial
'unnatural death' of the BDR soldiers and the arrest of thousands of
them, the insecurity in which the families of these BDR soldiers are
having to live at present, the confusion with the numbers of arrested
and absconding soldiers are no less unnerving for the nation. We hope,
the persons engaged in the crime will be tried fairly and be punished
according to the gravity of their involvement and that no innocent
person will be a victim of any kind of revenge or intrigue.

We often hear the saying that Justice delayed is justice denied but
we also must remember there is a saying too that Justice hurried is
justice buried.