Five men have been arrested by Police in Bangladesh after three children were found to have been beaten to death at a Juvenile detention centre.
According to the Bangladeshi Police, the three deceased children were among 18 boys who had their mouths stuffed with towels while guards beat them with steel pipes, sticks and cricket bat stumps.
According to the guards, the 18 boys attacked and broke the hand of another guard at the detention facility.
According to Police spokesperson, Inspector Mohammed Rokibuzzaman, the dead children were brought in one after the other while the injured were being treated, which alerted the authorities to a possible case of physical abuse and torture.
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“Eighteen children were beaten for an hour around noon by the officials and several other children. The injured were initially given first aid. But when one of them was brought dead to a hospital at 6:30 pm, the hospital alerted us. Then two more… died,” the police spokesperson told the press.
He said further that the bodies of the deceased boys showed signs of torture and beatings because they were hit to teach them a lesson. Two other boys are said to be battling for their lives in hospital.
Five men, including the head of the facility, two teachers and a counsellor were arrested on Saturday. Eight other boys were arrested alongside the men for aiding in the beatings.
While recounting his ordeal, one of the boys who was physically assaulted said; “The sirs (centre staff) and other children inmates beat us with steel pipes and wooden sticks as if we were dogs. When we passed out, some of us were left under a tree and others sent to their rooms. When we regained consciousness, we were beaten again.”
The Juvenile detention facility houses about 280 children convicted or awaiting prosecution for crimes ranging from thefts to rapes and murders.