Enforced Disappearances: 1,600 Complaints Filed

1,600 complaints had been submitted to the commission investigating enforced disappearances as of October 31. Among these, the commission is verifying 383 complaints.

Out of these complaints, 172 are linked to the Action Battalion (RAB), 37 to Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC), 55 against the Detective Branch (DB), 26 against DGFI, 25 to the police and 68 are linked to complaints of disappearance in other ways. 

After investigating the incident, the commission found 8 “secret prisons” of these forces, where these missing persons were kept and tortured for years.

Mainul Islam Chowdhury, chairman of the commission investigating enforced disappearances and a former judge, informed this in a press conference in the capital’s Gulshan on Tuesday (November 5).

The commission states that seven members of various law enforcement agencies involved in these disappearances have been called and they will be interrogated. Other accused will also be called in phases.

The commission alleged that the secret prisons where the missing persons were kept and tortured have been “demolished”. The “evidence has been destroyed”. 

However, the commission has warned those who are destroying the evidence. Those who destroy the evidence, are warned that they will be considered “accomplices” of the persons involved in the disappearance. The commission urged not to destroy the evidence.

On August 27, the Interim Government formed the commission investigating enforced disappearances. The commission had the opportunity to report the incident of disappearances from 6 January 2009 to 5 August 2024. The victims reported complaints till October 30.

Besides Mainul Islam Chowdhury, the other members of the commission investigating enforced disappearances are – retired Additional Judge of High Court Division Farid Ahmed Shibli, human rights activist Noor Khan, BRAC University teacher Nabila Idris, and human rights activist Sajjad Hossain.