Police constable Kawsar Ali, who allegedly shot his colleague Monirul Islam to death in an apparent moment of madness while on duty in the Baridhara diplomatic zone on Saturday night, has been a long term mental patient, according to his family members, and had been exhibiting symptoms of an ongoing episode in the last 4-5 days.

Kawsar Ali is the younger of two sons of freedom fighter Hayat Ali Master, of Daulatpur Upazila in Kushtia district.

According to locals, Kawsar joined the Bangladesh Police on 15 December 2005. He was diagnosed with mental illness in 2010 after spending five years on the job.

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Later,  he was treated at Pabna Mental Hospital several times by the government. When asked if the accused Kausar was a drug addict, the family members denied it, saying that he was mentally ill. 

There is no scientific justification for associating 'mental illness' broadly with recreational or synthetic drug use. 

So his family made it a point to firmly assert the following: Kawsar was a genuine mental patient, with no indulgence in synthetic drugs that could have triggered Saturday night's incident, that took place right outside the guard room of the Palestinian Embassy in Baridhara, close to midnight. 

Claiming her son to be a good human being, Kawsar's mother Mabia Khatun said, "He has a mental problem. He became ill after joining the service. I spoke to him at 8pm on Saturday. At that time, he talked to me nicely. He also inquired about myself and his father's health."

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His wife Nilufar Yasmin Sathi said pretty much the same, and added: "He was treated at Pabna Mental Hospital several times, and there are the medical documents (to prove it)."

"We had no familial dispute. Whenever he fell sick, he had less contact with family members and talked less," she said.

Sathi said she had picked up the presence of this tendency to talk and communicate less with family members, in the 4-5 days leading upto Saturday.

Sathi, his wife of 18 years, said she had picked up the presence of this tendency to talk and communicate less with family members, in the 4-5 days leading upto Saturday. But  obviously she had no way of foretelling the extreme turn it would take, costing his colleague and fellow constable Munirul's life. 

In and Out of Pabna

The question obviously arises: how could a mentally ill person be serving in the police force?

Golam Mostafa, former chairman of Daulatpur Sadar Union, said Kawsar started reporting symptoms of mental illness only 5 years into joining the police force. As a member of the police, he had no dearth of access to treatments as the government arranged to have him treated at its most prominent mental health institution in Pabna. 

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Upon completing a treatment program, he would be released and his status at that point would be of someone who had recovered from their injury or illness. 

"After recovering, he would rejoin the job," he informed.