People require protection and only senior police officials can ensure it demanding fair treatment of police to common people. We draw the attention of the police administration to the fact that growing number of death in police custody and forced disappearance of young people particularly political workers and wealthy businessmen by police in uniform or in plain-clothes must end. We hope the fresh directives on members of the law enforcing agencies will produce results.
We particularly appreciate the recent disclosure to The New Nation by Soheli Ferdous, Assistant Inspector General (Media and Public Relations) from police headquarters in this respect. She said new instruction will stop crimes by police, including unwarranted arrest, extortion and torture during detention. She said they have also asked for police compliance of Supreme Court directives in connection with arrest without arrest warrant. They have asked all forces including members of Detective Branch (DB) to show their identity and wear uniform while carrying out raids.
She said every citizen has the right to check the identity and other documents of DB men in action. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal’s observation that members of the law enforcement agencies would follow directives of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on matter of arrest is also very significant.
We must say these are enough safeguards, if implemented but question remains whether police, RAB and DB men will really care about obeying all these instructions. It is strange they are almost routinely picking up people from their home and in the street. In most cases these people remain untraced and even never return to their families.
We must say the police headquarter can’t think their duty is over just with announcement of these instructions. They must understand the agonies of sufferers’ families while carrying out crimes enjoying political shelter.
In our view the police administration must take up vigorous investigations into such disappearance cases and those died in police custody to clear out the circumstances in which they disappeared and were killed.
The guilty policemen should be identified and be put on trial. Such barbarity is can’t be acceptable in a civilized society. Our police administration can’t shun their responsibility either.
Arrest for bribe and abduction of wealthy businessmen is making life increasingly insecure. In our view the identity of the gangsters operating as members of law enforcers must be revealed. They are destroying the image of police and given the honesty and sincerity police can easily find out their identity. The question is why they are not taking such step in the interest of public safety.
It is not quite difficult for police to know who were the people in uniform who abducted a young businessman from Bashundhara Residential Area on March 11 and released him after a week. The fact is that the returnees don’t speak out who had abducted or what payment they made fearing reprisal.
A young student leader of Chhatra Dal- Zakir Hussain Milon died early this month in jail custody after three days remand with DB police. They also picked up a Swechchhasebak Dal leader from inside the Press Club on March 6 where he had taken shelter to escape police arrest. DB police entered the Press Club brandishing guns and arrested him.
In another incident they picked up three Swechchhasebak Dal leaders from Press Club on March 8 where they went to attend a protest rally demanding release of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia from jail.
Even party secretary general can’t protect a victim as he was seeking protection from him. The list is hefty but police action is scanty to prevent recurrence of such incidents.
We would like to believe that directives from the police headquarters should be taken seriously by police and other agency people and we will not hear arrests any more being made by plain clothes personnel or arrested persons being taken into police custody for torturing to secure unacceptable confessions.
We also have to remind our police that these directives are nothing new. These protections against arrest without warrant and not to inflict torture are the dictates of the Constitution. The police everywhere are expected to respect the Constitution.
