NEWS reports said a man allegedly accused of murdering a girl was killed in a “shootout” with RAB in the capital’s Kamalapur area early on Sunday. The news made out several points for public concerns. In the first place, killing of a young girl, alleged to be a drug peddler or whoever she be — is a homicidal crime that deserves the highest punishment. But if the accused is killed before trial one cannot be sure that he or she was the killer. No civilized nation where the rule of law has any meaning will accept that a person without trial was really the accused because the police said so.
Not only us, the human rights bodies here and outside have been reminding the law enforcing agencies that they have no right to kill people in the name of shootouts or in any other name. High officials must not take such killings politically that they will be politically defended. As they know, crimes remain punishable no matter how long is the delay. Besides, the law enforcers simply cannot be killers.
Drug trafficking is a matter of grave concern to all but destroying evidence by killing at ‘shootouts’ may also mean killing the wrong persons to protect the real criminals. Destroying evidence of drug traffickers is not at all helpful for fighting drug trafficking.
The RAB officials who have taken part in the raid however said their bullets hit the man when he was shooting at them in his attempt to escape in the darkness of night. The report quoted Motijheel police as saying that the man was the main accused in the murder case of the young Yaba trader whose severed head was found on the rooftop of the accused person’s own building on March 10. Other parts of her body were also recovered from the areas closer to his building. The RAB officials claimed they had gone to arrest the man who was in hiding to evade arrest.
It is clear from the reported incidents that killing in cross-fire has become too frequent to ignore. Such incidents of killing in the hands of the police must be judicially investigated to know the whole truth and save the image of our law enforcing agencies. It does not make us happy to see their professional integrity and efficiency being questioned even in international forums.
If impartial investigation takes place we shall all know how heavily the criminals were armed and how they got hold of arms. Anybody with a gun may kill anybody. He does not need long training that the police receive at huge cost to the nation. Taking advantage of our irresponsible politics some persons working in the law enforcing agencies are claiming wrong bravery by killing people in cross-fire. Specially, the RAB should be more careful not to indulge in the bravery that they can kill people. This is very much un-police like conduct and there is nothing to be proud of in not being able to catch the criminal alive and prove his guilt in court.
