B’desh may exhume bodies of Gopalganj victims amid massive public outcry

Dhaka, July 19: Bangladesh’s Home Advisor Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Saturday reportedly stated that the bodies buried in Gopalganj district during this week’s violence will be exhumed for autopsy, if required. Chowdhury alleged that the families of the victims took away the bodies without conducting any post-mortem, the local media reported.
Addressing journalists in Dhaka, the Home Advisor made the remarks as the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus continues to receive widespread condemnation for burying those killed in the Gopalganj clashes without conducting any autopsies.
Several reports cited that the burial of people shot dead by the law enforcement agencies during the protest on Wednesday (July 16) has been carried out without any post-mortem examinations.
“I found out over the phone on Wednesday afternoon that my nephew had been shot dead. By the time I arrived, the body had already been brought home from the hospital. No autopsy was done, and we did not receive any death certificate from the hospital,” Bangladesh’s leading daily Dhaka Tribune quoted one of the relatives as saying.
At least five people were killed and more than 50 injured in Gopalganj – locals suggest the death toll could be much higher – during a violent crackdown on the protestors by the Bangladeshi law enforcement agencies after thousands rallied against the “state-sponsored repression” unleashed by the Yunus regime.
Additionally, 164 people were arrested in different parts of Gopalganj till Friday, while police have registered three cases at different police stations, accusing a total of 2,800 people, the local media reported.
The accused include several leaders and activists of the Awami League’s student wing Chhatra League, and party supporters.
The Awami League on Saturday issued a scathing condemnation of what it called a “brutal and deadly crackdown” on unarmed civilians in Gopalganj district. The party blamed the Yunus-led regime, accusing it of authorising state forces to “exterminate” citizens who refused to support activists of the Yunus-backed National Citizen Party (NCP).
The party slammed the effort by the press wing on behalf of the Chief Advisor to slap the blame on the families of the victims who were shot fatally by the law enforcement over their burial without an autopsy.
Bangladesh has been gripped with severe human rights abuses since the Yunus led interim government assumed power last August.
Numerous unprovoked and violent attacks against journalists, police officers, minorities, and those connected with the Awami League party, have been reported from across the country over the past 11 months.
There are allegations of killings, arbitrary imprisonment on false criminal charges, particularly of journalists, unchecked mob violence, and incitement of religious violence, such as attacks on Bangladeshi Hindus and the destruction of Hindu temples. Several political leaders of the country have asserted that no steps have yet been taken in Bangladesh to hold the perpetrators of these allegations to account. (IANS)