3 boys tortured to death at Jashore correction centre: 5 arrested

Five people, including Abdullah Al Masud, superintendent of Jashore juvenile correction centre, have been arrested in connection with a case filed over torturing three boys of the centre to death.

The five people were arrested on the night of Friday (August 14) after interrogating several people in this connection, said Md Ashraf Hossain, superintendent of Jashore Police.

The four other arrestees are Masum Billah, assistant superintendent, Mushfikur Rahman, psychosocial counsellor, and physical instructors Shahanur Alam and Omar Faruk.

Earlier on the night of Friday, Roka Mia, father of slain Parvez Hossain Rabbi, filed a case against the authorities of Jashore juvenile correction centre with Jashore Kotwali Police Station.

Following this, police took several officials and inmates of the correction centre, to custody for interrogation. Of them, five were arrested as police primarily found their involvement in the murder, said Inspector Rokibuzzaman, also the investigation officer of the case.

The three boys were allegedly tortured to death by several staffers and senior inmates at the juvenile correction centre on Thursday (August 13).

The allegation was raised by injured inmates who had also been through similar abuse and are undergoing treatment at Jashore General Hospital.

At first, the teenagers were shown a CCTV footage of the August 3 incident and suddenly the beatings started, the injured boys said.

At one point, the senior inmates pulled the hands of the teenagers through a grill while the officials, including Masum, beat them ruthlessly until they got tired, they added.

Then the officials handed over the charge of beating to the senior inmates. The beating continued until some of them fell unconscious, they said.

The second phase of torture started around 3:00pm until they lost their consciousness once again, the injured boys at the hospital said, adding that three of them -- Parvez Hasan Rabbi, 18, Rasel alias Sujon, 18, and Naeem Hossain, 17 -- never regained their senses and died in the evening.