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DHAKA, June 25, 2025 (BSS) - The Commission on enforced disappearance has said they found specialised interrogation rooms equipped with "torture devices" nearly at every detention facilities despite perpetrators efforts to destroy evidence after post-August 5, 2024 period.
 
"Nearly every detention centre we discovered had specialised interrogation rooms equipped with torture devices," read the seventh chapter of the commission's second interim report made available to BSS.
 
 The report said significant efforts were made to destroy this evidence but the commission was able to "uncover traces that aligned with survivor testimonies, such as a rotating chair at RAB 2, CPC 3; the "jom tupi" (head covering) at RAB 4 and DB; and the pulley system used to suspend people at TFI (Taskforce Interrogation) cell".
 
 It said at almost every destroyed location, remnants of soundproofing were found while the system was designed to muffle the victims' screams and prevent them from being heard beyond the room's walls.
 
 In some centres, the report said, music was also used to deaden sounds of the victims' anguish, and presumably for the enjoyment of the interrogators.
 
 According to the report victims endured prolonged discomfort due to a combination of physical and psychological abuse while they were often given half the food ration of regular guards, kept handcuffed and blindfolded, and placed in solitary confinement.

"The uncertainty of their fate, coupled with these harsh conditions, led to constant distress," the report said.
 
 The commission said the torture victims were often held in enforced disappearance allowing perpetrators to carry out their actions without the threat of legal consequences. 
 
 The uncertainty about whether a victim would ever appear in court or simply vanish from the state's records facilitated this unchecked abuse and this environment emboldened perpetrators, making it much less likely for the torture to be interrupted or questioned.

It said in cases where torturers feared additional scrutiny, they took steps to erase the evidence of their actions while some cases the perpetrators waited several weeks to get the captives healed or their bruises faded before they was presented to the public "ensuring that no obvious traces of their crimes remained".
 
 The report said apart from exposing victims to generalized discomfort, beatings were most common nature of torture while electric shock including genital shock during urination, use of rotating devices in forms chair and full-body apparatus were other methods used against the victims.
 
 The commission observed that personnel were consistently engaged over time that demonstrated "the abuse was part of a sustained and organised effort" also because of the fact that equipment had to be procured, personnel trained, and methods institutionalised to ensure the continued operation of this system.
 
"The scale of the abuse and its persistent nature indicate that it was not only condoned at the ground level but likely supported by those at the highest echelon of power," the report read.
 
 It said a system of torture like this could not have existed without the explicit approval from higher authorities as "there had to be budget allocations for infrastructure, equipment procurement, and maintenance over time".

"Therefore, responsibility for these crimes against humanity cannot rest solely with the perpetrators on the ground; it extends to commanding officers and senior officials who allowed or even encouraged these practices," the report read.