Another Awami League leader dies in Bangladesh jail, a day after being granted bail

Dhaka: Amid concerns over growing custodial deaths of Awami League members in Bangladesh, another party leader died in custody at Kishoreganj District Jail, just a day after being granted bail, local media reported.

The deceased, identified as 75-year-old Ranjit Kumar Ghosh, general secretary of the Awami League's Chowddoshata union unit in Kishoreganj Sadar upazila, was taken to Shaheed Syed Nazrul Islam Medical College Hospital in Kishoreganj on Monday after falling ill, where doctors pronounced him dead shortly after his arrival.

Jahanara Begum, superintendent of Kishoreganj District Jail, said that Ranjit's health suddenly deteriorated on Monday morning, following which prison authorities rushed him to the hospital, where he was declared dead.

The jail superintendent also said that although Ranjit was granted bail on Sunday, he remained behind bars as the prison authorities did not receive the required release clearance by the end of the day, Bangladesh's leading newspaper The Daily Star reported.

According to his relatives, Ranjit was taken into police custody in connection with a case linked to the 2024 July Uprising and was subsequently sent to jail on court orders. He had remained incarcerated at Kishoreganj District Jail since August this year.

His death comes amid a growing number of custodial deaths involving Awami League leaders in Bangladesh since the 2024 political upheaval.

On Tuesday, the Awami League condemned the failure to release Ranjit despite being granted bail, saying the elderly leader's death reflected an increasingly disturbing pattern of fatalities inside Bangladesh's prisons.

"An elderly political leader, suffering from serious medical conditions, spent months behind bars. Even after being granted bail, he was not released. Instead of returning home to his family, he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His death adds to an increasingly disturbing pattern of deaths in Bangladesh's prisons," the party posted on X.

The party claimed that a country where political affiliation can mean prolonged imprisonment, where bail does not necessarily bring freedom, and where deaths in custody continue at such an alarming rate cannot credibly claim to uphold democratic values.

"This is the reality of Bangladesh today: a profound crisis of justice, accountability and the rule of law. Not democracy, but lawlessness. Ranjit Kumar Ghosh deserved dignity, adequate medical care and the protection of the law. His death demands an independent investigation, full accountability for any wrongdoing, and urgent scrutiny of the treatment of political detainees throughout Bangladesh. The right to life is not a political privilege. It is a fundamental human right," the Awami League stated.

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