Death in custody: Raihan’s mother moves High Court seeking justice

The mother of Sylhet youth Raihan Ahmed, who was allegedly tortured to death in police custody, has applied to the High Court (HC) to become a party in the writ petition filed earlier seeking an independent and impartial probe into her son's death.

Salma Begum, on Sunday, appealed to the High Court bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Md Khairul Alam.  

Barrister Fayez Uddin Ahmed represented Salma in the court.

He later told the media, "On Sunday, Salma applied to the High Court to become a party in the writ petition filed by us. The hearing on the petition may be held on Monday."

Earlier on October 13, Barrister Fayez filed the writ petition and also sought reasonable compensation for the victim's family.

The home secretary, the inspector general of police (IGP), the Sylhet Metropolitan Police commissioner, the deputy commissioner of police, and the superintendent of police (SP) were made respondents to the writ.

On October 11, Raihan died in police custody following torture, his family alleged. 

Refuting the allegation, police said Raihan was caught by locals while mugging and was lynched.

However, the victim's mother said Raihan had called her from an unknown number at 4:23am and said that police had taken him to Bandarbazar police outpost and demanded Tk10,000 for his release.
 
Raihan's uncle went to Bandarbazar police outpost at 9am but police said Raihan fell ill and was taken to hospital at 7am.
 
After rushing to the hospital, he came to know that Raihan was already dead and that his body had been sent for a post-mortem examination.