This is the presentation file I created as part of a group project back in 2017

1. Enforced Disappearance:
A grey area in our legal
system?

2. DECEPTICONS
•MD. Saiyed Bin Abdullah (Roll-66)
•Ahmed Ragib Chowdhury (Roll-86)
•Sal Sabil Chowdhury (Roll-101)
•Salman Habib Akash ( Roll-106)
•Sadman Rizwan Apurbo (Roll-120)
•H.M. Fazle Rabbi (Roll-133)
•Biva Mosharraf (Roll-137)

3. Definition Of Enforced
Disappearance
“Enforced disappearance" is considered as arrest, detention, abduction or any
other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or
groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the
State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by
concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place
such a person outside the protection of the law.
-OHCHR

4. Deprivation of liberty against the will of the person1
Involvement of government officials, at least by acquiescence2
Refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or concealment of the
fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person.3
ELEMENTS OF ENFORCED DISAPPERANCE
Source-OHCHR

5. Violated
Constitutional
Rights
Right to
protection of
law
Right to life
and personal
liberty
Protection in
respect of
trial and
punishment
Right to
freedom of
movement
31 32 33 36
Protection of
home and
corresponde
nce
43

6. 1971 1996 2002 2004 2009
In 14th December
Pakistani military
forcefully
disappeared some
of the brightest
luminaries of
Bangladesh whose
bodies were later
found dumped in
different places
Kalpana Chakma,
an indigenous
women's rights
activist, was
allegedly
kidnapped by the
military personnel
for being critical of
military activities
in CHT
In the name of so
called “operation
clean heart” lot
of people were
forcefully
disappeared
After the
establishment of
RAB, a number of
case of forceful
disappearance
were reported
The number of
cases of forceful
disappearance
has drastically
increased
ORIGIN AND
DEVELOPMENT

7. 324 people Disappeared
Since 2010
20142011 20132010 2012 2015 2016
SOURCE-ODHIKAR
18 31 26
53 39
66 91

8. Impact on our culture
Impact on individuals
The families and relatives suffer from severe mental
distress as they have to go through the roller coaster
of hope and despair while searching for the victim
The victim, being the only bread winner, leaves the
family in deep financial crisis
The wife of the victim never knows whether she is a
widow and the children of the victim never know
whether they are orphan
As a result, they can't claim the benefit of the support
often provided to widows and orphans.
Impact on society as a whole
The culture of enforced disappearance perpetuates
injustice in society and a felling of lawlessness finds
its way in people’s mind
People lose faith in judiciary and executive branches of
the government
People develop abhorrence and incredulity towards
law enforces and hence become reluctant to seek help
The kind of impunity with which the crime of enforced
disappearance is being carried out opens the floodgate
for other crimes like kidnapping and abduction

9. Crime is contagious. If the
Government becomes a law-
breaker, breeds contempt for law;
it invites anarchy.
- Justice Brandeis in Olmstead v. United
States
“

10. Role of the executive in rescuing victims
In most cases the relatives of the victims fails to file a GD when the complaint contains an allegation that law
enforcement authorities were involved
In some cases, the law enforcers not only refuse to take the complaint but also make unnecessary
harassment and so to stop the relatives from perusing justice
The law enforcers also blame the victim of voluntarily going into hiding and thus relieve themselves of the
responsibility to rescue him
If the relatives of the victims are allowed to file GD, they can do so only by stating that their relative has been
kidnapped or is simply missing
Once the GD is filed, police feel little, if any, importance to make an investigation into the case. Sometimes,
the police feel pressure from the higher officials and fail to make proper investigation despite willingness

11. CHALLENGES TOWARDS ENSURING
JUSTICE
Penal Code has provision in
regards to abduction and
kidnapping but there is no
mention of enforced
disappearance
Abduction and kidnapping are
domestic crimes whereas
Enforced Disappearance is a
crime against humanity
Section 3 of the Special
Powers Act, 1974
Section 54 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1898
Section 13 of the Armed
Police Battalions
Ordinance, 1979
Vacuum in Legal
system
Good Faith
Laws
No directions
from the
Supreme Court
Laws vulnerable
to misuse

12. Long term
Measures
Immediate

13. Effectively criminalizing enforce disappearance either through amending the Penal Code
or legislating separate statute with provision for the institution of special tribunal for
speedy disposal of such cases
1
Amending the Evidence Act to put the burden of proof on the state that it was not
involved in the illegal detention2
Amending the existing statutes to curb the power of law enforcement agencies to
arbitrary arrests and detentions.3
Long Term Measures
Incorporating in Code of Criminal Procedure the clear and step-by-step procedure as to
how someone can file a case against any member of the law enforcement agencies.4
Implementing the recommendations given by The Supreme Court in “Bangladesh & ors
Vs. BLAST & ors, 2016 SCOB [AD]”5

14. Immediately signing and ratifying ‘International Convention for the Protection of All
Persons from Enforced Disappearance’.1
Applying the decision taken in “H.M. Ershad v. Bangladesh” that in case of a vacuum in
nation law, international law should be brought in to fill that vacuum2
Applying the Decision of ‘BNWLA v. Government of Bangladesh’ that the international
conventions and norms are to be read into the fundamental rights in the absence of any
domestic law occupying the field when there is no inconsistency between them
3
Immediate Measures
Implementing “Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court” which Bangladesh has
both signed and ratified and according to which enforced disappearance in a crime
against humanity
4
Promptly investigating the existing allegations of enforced disappearances, locate and
release those held secretly by security forces, and prosecute the perpetrators.5

15. THANK YOU

16. QUESTIONS?