Md Joynal Abedin Khan :
The members of detective police and other law enforcing agencies now hardly follow the directives of the apex court to conduct any arrest drive in the city and other parts of the country.
They reportedly remain indifferent to show their identity cards and necessary documents to suspected criminals/accused or their relatives during detention from their residence, workplace and anywhere in the country, sources close to victims’ families said.
Common people have become confused as they have no clear idea about fake detectives and actual detectives. They feel nervous when such gangs identified themselves as ‘plainclothes’ police officers and use handcuffs, pistols, walkie-talkies, ropes and identity cards, they said. Even many family members of disappearance victims pointed fingers at law enforcement agencies.
Some members of law enforcing agencies sometimes take extortion money and commit other crimes hiding their real identities to escape from the offenses, Police Headquarters sources recently said.
They said organised gangs of criminals in the guise of law enforcers are committing various crimes, including kidnapping and mugging, in different parts of the country, creating panic among common people.
The gangsters, mostly wearing law enforcers’ uniforms and introducing themselves as members of detective police, kidnap innocent people as well as businessmen and realise handsome amount of money from them or from their families in exchange of their freedom, they added.
Besides, common people often fall prey to those fake law enforcers and money, gold ornaments and other valuables, they added.
According to rights body Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), as many as 519 people allegedly feel victims to forced disappearances between 2010 and July 2017 in Bangladesh and an astonishing 329 of them were still missing.
On October 25, 2017, authorities have suspended seven detectives for allegedly kidnapping a businessman in Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar, said Afjurul Hoque Tutul, Additional Superintendent of Police in the district.
Earlier on July 18, 2017, 12 men, posing as members of the DB of Police, have been detained in Dhaka with weapons and other equipment used by law-enforcement officials, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Deputy Commissioner (media) Masudur Rahman.
On November 27, 2013, Humayun Parvez along with two leaders of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Saiful Islam and Jasimuddin, were going to Dhaka from Laksham by an ambulance. A team of RAB-11 intercepted them in Comilla’s Harispur and picked them up in their vehicle. He has not been heard of since, said Humayun’s son Shahriar.
Rafsanul Islam, son of another victim Saiful Islam, claimed that law enforcers picked up his father and he filed a case about four years ago, but there has been no progress in the case. The police are silent about it.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kalam has said that the law enforcement agencies would follow the directives of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
He said, “Security forces produced everyone in court within 24 hours of detention. I am not aware of any exception.”
He claimed that ‘overenthusiastic’ security personnel ‘who acted on their own’ faced trial for their misconduct.
Police’s high ups have already issued necessary instructions to stop such crimes, including extortion and torturing during the detention of people, Soheli Ferdous, Assistant Inspector General (Media and Public Relations) of Police Headquarters, told The New Nation on Sunday evening.
“We have great respect to the court directives in connection with the arrest drives under section 54 of the CrPC,” she said.
All the police personnel, mainly members of detective branch (DB), have been instructed to show their identity card and to put on uniform or jacket to carry out any drive, the AIG said.
Rights activist and lawyer Sara Hossain demanded implementation of a landmark judgement by the High Court on April 7, 2003, prescribing a series of directives on the the CrPC.
These directives included amendment of Section 54 of the CrPC, aimed at stopping abuse of power by law enforcers, she said.
“The section 54 and the section 167 are being misused for decades. The Supreme Court judgment is historic,” said Nur Khan, former executive director of the ASK.
On May 24, 2016, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court “dismissed” an appeal filed by the state against a High Court order that had issued some directives on Sections 54 and 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which allows law enforcers to arrest people without any warrant and grill them in custody respectively.
