RAB, DB, CTTC primary perpetrators in most enforced disappearance cases: Inquiry commission

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Detective Branch (DB), and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crimes (CTTC) have been identified by victims, witnesses, and family members as the primary perpetrators in most cases of enforced disappearances in Bangladesh during the Awami League regime, according to the interim report of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance.

It said the commission's assessment found that a significant number of enforced disappearances across the country were committed by these units operating under the purview of the Bangladesh Police.

Other actors also implicated in enforced disappearance cases include the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) and the National Security Intelligence (NSI), said the report that was submitted to the interim government's Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus yesterday (14 December).

The commission found that the "goom culture" — or the culture of enforced disappearance — was systematically designed over the past 15 years to remain undetectable. For instance, security forces would frequently operate in plain clothes and falsely attribute their actions to other agencies. "If DGFI was operating, they would claim to be RAB; if it was RAB, they would claim to be DB, etc."

The forces would also exchange victims amongst themselves, with one force abducting, another incarcerating, and the third one killing or releasing the victims.

Citing an example, the commission's report states, "Call records of one victim showed that his SIM card was activated at DGFI Headquarters soon after his abduction. Whilst his description of the cells he was kept in and his fellow inmates at the relevant time appeared to confirm his first location was DGFI's JIC, he was subsequently taken to several RAB detention facilities in Dhaka that we identified through the descriptions of the cells, and finally, he was shown arrested months later by RAB 7 in Chittagong."

"This misdirection ensured that, even when a survivor emerged, identifying the responsible entity remained difficult," said the report.

Moreover, even when it was a single force carrying out an enforced disappearance, the operations were deliberately segmented. The team responsible for the abduction would differ from the team managing detention, which in turn would differ from the team carrying out elimination.

As a result, even individuals directly involved in victim elimination teams often lacked knowledge of who they were eliminating or the broader context of the operations, read the report.

However, interviews with officers across various security forces confirmed that high-ranking officers almost certainly possessed this information, underscoring the importance of targeting investigative as well as accountability efforts at the leadership level.

"Additionally, the frequent rotation of teams, the blending of jurisdictions, and the lack of clear operational boundaries compounded the clandestine nature of the crime. For instance, RAB 2 could easily conduct operations within RAB 11's jurisdiction without raising any internal questions," according to the report.

The inquiry commission thanked the surviving victims because the systemic nature of this design rendered their inquiry extraordinarily challenging, as the mechanisms in place were specifically intended to conceal responsibility and suppress accountability.