Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) expresses grave concern over the allegation of beating of Abul Kalam Azad and arresting his cousin brother by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). Azad stood in front of Ganabhabon, Prime Minister’s official residence showing a placard inscribing ‘I Want Justice’ to draw Prime Minister’s attention to what he said was grabbing of land by influential people in Narayanganj.

According to different media reports, a youth named Abul Kalam Azad, a resident of Panchamighat of Sonargaon sub district of Narayanganj stood in front of Ganabhabon on Sunday morning showing a placard inscribing ‘I Want Justice’ to draw Prime Minister’s attention to what he said was grabbing of land by influential people. He left the place after couple of hours after the police asked him to leave the place.

However, on the same night RAB allegedly stormed into the house of Abul Kalam Azad, at Panchamighat in Narayanganj. RAB members beat up Azad and his cousin Sohel. Later, RAB picked up Azad’s uncle and Sohel. The uncle was released but Sohel was shown arrested for allegedly keeping Yaba pills in his possession.

We are deeply concerned about the matter. The people become bewildered with the RAB’s drive at Azad’s house and detention of his cousin with Yaba pills just hours after his protest in front of Ganabhaban. Due to our previous experience about RAB, we are not absolutely sure about RAB’s claim that there was no connection between Azad’s protest and arrest of his cousin.

We demand an impartial and credible investigation into the matter. We want to see proactive role from the National human Rights Commission in this regard. We urge that the allegation against RAB members is investigated by an independent and credible authority and the findings are made public.