It is becoming a regular scenario in Bangladesh for police personnel to allegedly getting involved more boldly in various hardcore crimes. From extortion to abduction and rape, dacoity to drug trade, forced disappearance to murder-their involvement is found in all kinds of crime as revealed to the media. The people are worried, especially more vulnerable women not to have full trust to expect and seek police help. But the responsible police officials want to feel proud as the friends of the people for their service in providing safety and security.
The people know that the police are being used politically to achieve political ends of the government to remain in power. So the police have no autonomy to maintain professionalism. Police cases are trumped up to keep in jail political opponents without bail.
The institution of police has been too badly damaged when the police stuffed ballot papers to give the government shameful ultra massive election victory. Our people never saw anything like this before that police could be used for depriving the people.
We would like to keep quiet for our national shame but so much excess was committed in filling the ballot boxes that it was an embarrassment for the government also. We have been proved as a nation conspiring against ourselves for denying the basic right as a free nation.
It is our belief that when the police are allowed to break professional integrity and discipline they become dangerous criminals. Surly not all police officials join to commit crimes but the urge to indulge in crime among all cannot be denied.
A highly placed police officer openly announced that he paid taka 40 lakhs as bribe to save himself from corruption charges. He made the allegation against another highly placed Anti-Corruption official. Though Anti-Corruption Official is denying the allegation, the people know it well that no highly placed person in the government can be regarded as beyond suspicion of bribe taking. At high levels there is another name for bribe taking and that is commission sharing.
At present, the stories of DIG Mizanur Rahman and former OC of Moazzem Hossain are talks of the country. DIG Mizan openly announced that he paid Tk 40 lakh cash to Anti-Corruption Director Khandaker Enamul Basir for not mentioning his name in the charge-sheet. What’s surprising is that, none of them has been arrested or no legal proceeding started against them. The truth has to be found out first by the respective departments.
But if such allegations were raised against any ordinary person he would have been handcuffed as arrested by Anti-Corruption officials and lengthy legal proceedings would have continued. They would not have heard with any seriousness to wait till charge-sheet is justified. The Commission has absolute power to arrest first then investigate.
In April 2014, seven people including a panel-mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation and a lawyer were abducted and brutally killed where some members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) – 11, including its commander and two top officials, were involved.
Three years after the murder of former SP Babul Akter’s wife Mahmuda Khanam Mitu in Chattogram, police still did not reveal why she was killed and what was the motive. Police only claimed one informer Musa Sikdar, the main accused, was her killer. But it’s still a big mystery for what reason SP Babul lost his prestigious job from the police department.
Another senior police official, Faridpur’s Superintendent of Police Subhash Chandra Saha and his wife Rina Chowdhury were accused in millions of taka graft case. In an incident of criminal act by police, seven Detective Branch (DB) policemen were caught red handed by the army team for possessing a Tk17 lakh ransom at a check post on Teknaf-Cox’s Bazar Marine Drive on August 28 in 2017.
Here, we just have cited a few examples to express our genuine concern for saving the police as honest and disciplined law enforcers. We want the police to be aware how destructive it is to be the defender of politics instead of defenders of law and justice.
The police will have no justification to file and harass anyone initiating 20 to 40 even more cases against a person in various parts of the country where only one case lies in law. The law minister tells the foreign delegates, treating them as fools, that the government is bound by law and the judgements-that is we have the rule of the country.
He thus exposes his own notion and understanding of the rule of law knowing well how the lower judiciary is under the control of the law ministry. How illegally bail is refused in bailable cases or how courts take into cognisance large number of cases where only one case can be filed. Such practices by police cannot be an encouragement for the criminals to fear police. Since police have failed to keep trust with the people themselves, it would be hard for police to maintain an orderly situation.
The boldness among some police officials should be more evident from the recent facts of raping woman by Keraniganj OC soon after the complicity of OC Sonagazi in sexual harassment and later burning the madrasa girl to death. Now a case has been filed against 16 persons including local leaders. But the OC who refused to help the girl is not an accused in the killing of the girl by a gang of people. It is also an act of serious indiscipline for a police officer to admit barefacedly that he paid taka 40 lakhs as bribe.
We know that many policemen are punished everyday now and then. But in our consideration only punishing a few low-ranking police personnel will not save the police force. The top police officers must learn to behave as part of the law and justice system and not of political process. The government must depend on popularity among the people and not on bribing the police.
In a free country it is the duty of every citizen to ensure good governance under the democratic Constitution given to the people. We must not compromise our independence with anyone in exchange of our very basic right to vote. There is no pride or patriotism for us when so many police officers are not honest law enforcers. The professional integrity at the top is essential for any disciplined force to remain disciplined.
