Dhaka: The UN rights office has said it found several cases when the people wounded in street protests during the last year’s July-August uprising had faced obstructions in getting immediate medical care while in some places they were denied necessary medical documentation.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, the United Nations Human Rights Office’s fact-finding report, released earlier this month, stated that where law enforcement officials expect to use force or violence is considered likely, the authorities must also ensure that adequate medical facilities are available. “Assistance and medical aid must be rendered to injured or affected persons at the earliest possible moment, irrespective of whether the force used against the person was lawful,” the OHCHR or Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
The report highlighted that the issue of medical care was “mostly left to other protesters and concerned local citizens, including many rickshaw drivers, to provide basic first aid and tr
ansport the injured to hospital.” The OHCHR observed that these omissions by the security forces likely led to preventable deaths among the injured.
Referring to victim and eyewitness accounts, corroborated by videos and photos, the report indicated that instead of extending assistance for immediate medical care, police deliberately obstructed efforts to provide timely medical aid. It cited the death of a victim named Shykh Aashhabul Yamin in Savar on July 18, who was “repeatedly shot” by police as he climbed on a blue police armoured personnel carrier (APC).
On July 19, a helicopter dropped tear gas shells in front of a hospital, driving away people trying to access it. On the same day, tear gas was fired into a garage known to serve as an ad hoc medical treatment centre for injured protesters. On August 4, police shot and injured a 17-year-old boy in the Farmgate area and then police officers at the scene placed the injured boy on a rickshaw and ordered the driver to take him away. Other police blocked th
e rickshaw from accessing nearby hospitals, and although one officer ordered the driver to throw the injured man in a drain, he was eventually allowed to pass. By the time the victim was admitted to a hospital, he had died.
The OHCHR reported that Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) ensured medical care for 32 injured protesters of its own accord, but this seemed to be an exception to the overall pattern documented by OHCHR. The evidence showed that police and other security forces regularly took no action to administer first aid, organize emergency transport, or provide other assistance to injured protesters and bystanders, including victims of their own unlawful shooting.
On August 5, as police were indiscriminately shooting at protesters around Jatrabari police station, they apprehended a local man who was aiding injured protesters and threatened to shoot him four times as punishment. Despite pleading for mercy, one officer shot him once in the leg at point-blank range. The officers then dragged the bleeding m
an into a gutter and left him there.
The report mentioned that the directorate general of forces intelligence (DGFI), national security intelligence (NSI), police’s detective branch, and other agencies obstructed medical care when they mounted operations to keep hospitals under surveillance. They identified patients with gunshot injuries, interrogated medical staff and injured patients, and confiscated medical records and CCTV footage without due process.
The OHCHR stated that medical staff were pressured not to treat injured protesters with necessary care and not to provide proper medical documentation. Testimonials indicated that the obstruction was based on orders given at higher levels. The existence of such orders was suggested by similar types of obstruction involving different security and intelligence forces across hospitals in Dhaka and other parts of the country.
The report noted that in some cases, families faced delays in burying loved ones who died in violence, as police neither performed auto
psies nor allowed families to collect bodies without one.