Ivan was arrested on Thursday in Narayanganj after a case was lodged against him by the victim alleging that she was raped in Ivan’s house where she was invited to attend Ivan’s birthday party, as per a local daily report.
A Dhaka court on Friday afternoon granted police four days to question Ivan in police custody about the rape allegation. The Metropolitan Magistrate passed the order after the concerned Sub-Inspector placed Ivan before the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate with a prayer to quiz Ivan for seven days.
In the morning, RAB’s Legal and Media Wing Director in a press conference in the elite force’s media centre at Karwanbazar in Dhaka said Bahauddin Ivan confessed to have violated the 21-year-old woman. RAB conducted drives to arrest Ivan according to the information given by the family.
The Battalion Official further said that Ivan was a drug addict. On Wednesday, the victim filed a case with the Banani police station against Ivan, father of two children, for ‘raping’ her at his house. Ivan invited her to join his ‘birthday party’ on Tuesday night where he was supposed to introduce the girl to his mother, the victim told police, according to the first information report.
It is unacceptable to believe that the police don’t have the necessary technology to find out where Ivan had been hiding and had to rely on the friendly cooperation of his honest father to find out and arrest Ivan. It is a simple procedure for the police to request the IMEI number of Ivan’s phone and track him by pinpointing his location – regardless of whether he changed his SIM card or not. But the police could not find him as apparently he was hiding in his own roof when they came to arrest him in his house.
The police force must be given more training, including the use of modern technology and advanced detective techniques, to find real criminals.
If the police spend all their time guarding VVIPs and arresting opposition members, it is highly unlikely that they would become efficient anytime soon. While they have shown success in areas like counter-terrorism, the units which handle domestic violence and other non-violent crimes must be brought upto international standards. Otherwise the real criminals will go scott free and our jails will be filled with political prisoners instead of the real undesirables.
