Dhaka, July 5 (ANI): New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Bangladesh to stop the 'unfair and flawed' mass trials of paramilitary border guards charged with the killing of 74 people in a 2009 mutiny.
An HRW report, raising serious concerns of mass trial of nearly 6000 suspects, said they have been subjected to widespread abuse, torture and deaths in custody.
According to the BBC, a Bangladeshi paramilitary spokesman described the HRW report as baseless.
Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized the authorities for the deaths of about 50 mutiny suspects in custody, which the government has said is because of heart attacks, or other natural causes.
HRW's 'The Fear Never Leaves Me' report said that Bangladesh's 'notorious' Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has allegedly been involved in many of the abuses.
"Those responsible for the horrific violence that left 74 dead should be brought to justice, but not with torture and unfair trials," HRW Asia Director Brad Adams said.
Adams said the government has done nothing to end the culture of abuse and impunity among its security forces.
HRW has called on the Bangladeshi authorities to establish an 'independent investigative and prosecutorial task force with sufficient expertise, authority and resources' to investigate and prosecute those guilty of human rights abuses after the mutiny.
However, RAB spokesman M Sohail said the report was 'fake and baseless'.
The mutiny over pay and conditions erupted at the Bangladeshi Rifles (BDR) headquarters in the capital, Dhaka, and lasted 33 hours.
Other BDR units followed suit across Bangladesh, in the worst armed forces mutiny in the country's history. Among the dead were at least 57 senior army officers, and their bodies were dumped in sewers or shallow graves. (ANI)