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Bangla rights body moves to stop Chetia's extradition

A Bangladesh human rights lawyer has expressed her concern to a Dhaka court that Anup Chetia, secretary general of the United Liberation Front of Asom, was being mistreated in jail.

Lawyer Elina Aziz Khan, representing the Bangladesh Human Rights Commission, made the statement after the police failed to produce Chetia for a bail hearing.

Chetia, alias Golap Barua, was arrested from a residential district in Dhaka on December 21 for illegal entry and possession of forged passports. In India he is accused of sedition, a charge that carries the death penalty.

Khan alleged that Chetia and his two associates, Lakshmi Prasad Goswami and Babul Sharma, were being subjected to 'mistreatment' in police custody. Further, she said, Chetia, who was being held under the Special Powers Act which allows detention for 120 days without trial, was not being permitted to meet his lawyers.

"This is a gross violation of human rights, " Khan said, "We are yet to ascertain Chetia's real physical condition."

A police spokesman said the three alleged insurgents were ill and physically incapable of standing in the dock.

Khan said she would file a petition in the Bangladesh high court to stop a reported move by the government to extradite Chetia to India.

"We will file the writ petition on February 8, both for stopping the extradition move as well as compelling the prison authorities to arrange proper medical attention for the accused," Khan said.

It was ULFA chief Aurobindu Rajkhowa who approached the BHRC to take up Chetia's case, Khan revealed.

Rajkhowa, who lives in exile, claimed that Chetia had fled India to escape certain execution.

UNI

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