1 case, 2 agencies, different accused: Who will take responsibility for mistakes in the race to arrest suspects?

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) -- which was dissolved and replaced by the Special Response Battalion (SRB) earlier this month -- initially arrested three people over the death of teacher Ronjila Parvin, who fell from a rickshaw after muggers pulled her bag on Manik Mia Avenue in the capital on 29 August.

She was critically injured and later died at a hospital in the capital on the same day. On 30 August, RAB then arrested three people and took them on remand before they were sent to jail.

Two weeks later, the Detective Branch (DB) arrested two others and recovered Ronjila's bag, mobile phone and the motorcycle allegedly used in the incident. DB said it found no involvement of the three arrested by RAB in Ronjila's death.

The conflicting arrests by the two agencies have raised questions over wrongful arrest, responsibility for investigations and whether those arrested without involvement should receive compensation.

Relatives of the men arrested by RAB said they were arrested, taken on remand and sent to jail despite being innocent, causing them and their families harassment and suffering. They have demanded legal action over the arrests.

Human rights activist Nur Khan said the law allows investigators to question or arrest people suspected of involvement in a crime.

Problems arise when someone is publicly presented as being involved in a crime at a press conference before the investigation is complete, only for a subsequent investigation to find no involvement, he said.

An arrest not only deprives a person of liberty, but can also expose their family to social harassment and damage their professional and financial lives, Nur said, adding that the mental pressure of being on remand and in jail is also important.

Two weeks, a changed scenario

On 29 August, 56-year-old Ronjila Parvin, headteacher of Bagbari Government Girls' Primary School in Gabtali upazila of Bogura, fell from a moving rickshaw on Manik Mia Avenue in the capital after a snatcher tugged at her bag. She was taken to hospital and declared dead.

The following day, 30 August, then RAB-2, now SRB-2, said it had arrested Poni alias Para Poni alias Poni Gazi and Cedric Julian for allegedly being directly involved in the incident. It later showed that motorcycle owner Rakib Hossain arrested in the case, bringing the total to three. All three were taken on remand.

RAB said the arrests were made as part of the investigation after it obtained sufficient information and evidence. At a briefing, then RAB-2 commander additional DIG Naimul Hasan said Poni had several previous cases against him.

After their remand ended, a court on 5 September ordered all three to be sent to jail. They have remained there since.

The picture changed on 16 September.

The DMP's Detective Branch said it had arrested Md Khokon and Rajib Matubbar over Ronjila's death. DB said the two were identified after analysing CCTV footage and other information. It also said Ronjila's bag, mobile phone and the motorcycle used during the incident were recovered from them.

DB Additional Commissioner Shafiqul Islam said no involvement of the three arrested by RAB was found in Ronjila's death.

He also said the motorcycle recovered by RAB was not the one used during the incident.

Ronjila's husband, Abdul Matin, also told reporters that the vanity bag and mobile phone recovered by DB belonged to his wife. He identified Khokon as the snatcher.

Khokon and Rajib gave confessional statements before a court on 17 September.

After the arrest of the two new suspects by DB, RAB-2 commander additional DIG Naimul Hasan said the three had been detained as suspects as part of the investigation based on intelligence information.

"We did our job, and they [DB] did theirs. None of us wants an innocent person to be punished. We had no such intention or purpose," he added.

He also said the three would be dropped from the charge sheet if no evidence was found against them.

Speaking to The Business Standard today (30 September), Mehedi Hasan, a lawyer for Rakib Hossain, said that CCTV footage and the recovered motorcycle had never linked his client to the incident.

He said their claim was vindicated after DB recovered Ronjila's bag and the motorcycle used during the incident from the people it arrested.

Mehedi said an application had been filed with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court seeking Rakib's bail, with the hearing scheduled for 8 November. His previous bail petition was rejected on 20 September.

Different accused in the same case

The arrest of different people by two agencies in the same case is not new.

In 2010, police and RAB arrested different people after police sub-inspector Gautam Roy was killed while attempting to arrest suspects in Dhaka's Bangshal.

RAB arrested Ali Haider and Zakir Hossain and claimed they were involved in the killing. Police, meanwhile, arrested Ahmed Ali alias Haider and Zakir Hossain.

The arrests of four people with similar names in the same case led to an open disagreement between the two agencies.

Later, a DB investigation dropped the two people arrested by RAB, Ali Haider and Zakir, from the charge sheet. The matter eventually reached a meeting of senior officials of the two agencies.

In September 2020, differences also emerged between RAB and police over the attack on then Ghioraghat upazila nirbahi officer Wahida Khanam and her father in Dinajpur.

RAB arrested Asadul Islam, Nabirul Islam and Santu Kumar Das. RAB initially said the attack was carried out with the intention of theft.

Police later arrested former gardener of the UNO office, Robiul Islam. The then Rangpur Range DIG said Robiul had admitted to being involved in the attack.

A subsequent investigation named Robiul as the sole accused in the charge sheet, and charges were framed against him in 2021.

A major difference also emerged between RAB and police over the 2014 killing of Rajshahi University sociology professor AKM Shafiul Islam.

RAB arrested six people and claimed the killing stemmed from "indecent" behaviour towards a woman working at the university, with Abdus Samad Pintu identified as the alleged mastermind.

Police, meanwhile, said it had found information suggesting militant involvement in the killing and announced the arrest of several people, including members of Ansar al-Islam Bangladesh-2.

The difference between the statements of RAB and police was reported the following day.

Police later changed its position and said the investigation was being pursued based on RAB's information that the killing stemmed from a personal grudge.

Who bears responsibility for a wrongful arrest?

Sumaiya Islam, wife of Rakib Hossain, one of those arrested in the Ronjila case, told TBS that her husband was arrested, taken on remand and sent to jail even though he was innocent.

She said she and her family had suffered harassment and hardship as a result and wanted redress.

Roni Gazi, brother of Poni Gazi, another person arrested in the case, said his brother had previous cases against him and they had no objection if those cases were dealt with through the legal process.

However, he said Poni had not been involved in the snatching and death of Ronjila but had nevertheless been subjected to harassment.

He also said legal action should be taken against the RAB, now SRB, officials involved.

Nur Khan told TBS that questions often remain unanswered about what action has been taken against officials responsible for wrongful arrests in the past, whether innocent people received compensation and whether there was any institutional accountability for presenting incorrect information at press conferences.

Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan said a court can order compensation under Section 250 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for a person harmed by a false case.

She said the provision also allows for compensation where a police officer submits a false report in a case that is not cognisable.

Dhaka University teacher and crime analyst Dr Tawohidul Haque told TBS that when one agency presents someone as a criminal, and another later says that person was not involved, the state has a responsibility to clarify what actually happened.

Such cases also require consideration of the social, mental and financial losses suffered by the families concerned, he added.

Referring to the Ronjila case, he said that rather than seeking quick credit after a high-profile incident, greater importance should have been placed on verifying evidence and information and arresting the actual perpetrator.