Chief justice sends list of 64 missing persons to inquiry commission

Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed today (12 September) sent various information, including a list of 64 people who were forcibly disappeared during the previous government, to the inquiry commission formed for the purpose of “finding the persons who have been forcibly disappeared”.

The chief justice recommended the inquiry commission to take necessary measures in this regard, a press release said.

Supreme Court Registrar General Aziz Ahmed Bhuiyan sent the list on the instructions of the chief justice. 

The press release said the relatives of persons forcibly disappeared by law enforcement agencies at various times came to the chief justice on 28 August to submit a memorandum under the banner of ‘Families of the Disappeared’. 

The registrar general of the SC accepted the memorandum, which details the financial and emotional plight of the relatives and family members of those forcibly disappeared, and demands the prosecution of the perpetrators of the crime by the International Criminal Tribunal. 

It further seeks financial compensation, conducting the case at public expense and if the missing person is not found, then also the chief justice’s cooperation in eight matters, including dealing with the sale or transfer of the property of the person concerned.

The memorandum, signed by Md Belal Hossain, chief coordination of the banner, also contains addresses and photos of 64 persons who have gone missing at different times.

The government set up a commission of inquiry on 27 August to trace the victims of enforced disappearances. 

The commission, led by retired High Court Judge Moinul Islam Chowdhury, aims to identify the individuals who have gone missing and investigate the circumstances surrounding their disappearances.

The other four members of the commission are Justice Md Farid Ahmed Shibli, another former judge of the High Court, rights activists Nur Khan and Sazzad Hossain, and Nabila Idris, a teacher at BRAC University.