subscribe: Posts | Comments

Role of Police in a Democratic Society

127 comments

Posted by webmaster on Jul 20, 2011 in Upcoming Activities | 127 comments

Role of Police in a Democratic Society

The third and final series of workshop organised by CHRI in collaboration with BLAST (http://www.blast.org.bd/) and Nagorik Uddyog (http://www.nuhr.org/) on “Role of Police in a Democratic Society” was held in Khulna district. BLAST is one of the leading non-governmental legal services organization in Bangladesh whereas Nagorik Uddyok is a grassroots organization spread extensively throughout the country. The workshop sought to promote and popularise police reform debates in the country as well as spread awareness about citizens rights and police powers.

It was inaugurated by the Mayor, Mr Talukder Abdul Khaleq, Khulna City Corporation who emphasised upon the need for police reform and commended the organizations for holding the workshop. Other prominent guests included senior Bar Council members, district judges and lawyers, local NGOs and community leaders as well as district police officers. The discussions revolved around the major reform initiatives in Bangladesh under the Police Reform Program of the UNDP-Government of Bangladesh namely the establishment of Model Thanas in Dhaka, community policing initiatives, and the draft Police Ordinance 2007. A detailed summary of the workshop discussion will be published in the August 2011 edition of NIPSA newsletter (to be issued by 31st August 2011). For further information and subscription to the newsletter, please contact devyani@humanrightsinitiative.org.

Details of Events

CHRI in collaboration with Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust and Nagorik Uddyog
29-30 July 2011
Khulna, Bangladesh

CHRI is holding its third and final in a series of workshops on he role of police ina democratic society. Being held in Khulna district, the purpose of the workshop is to spread awareness about citizens rights vis-à-vis the police, facilitate interaction between local organizations and district police officers for the purpose of mutual understanding, and generate interest in and understanding of police reform debates in Bangladesh. Spread over two days, the workshop brings together various persons vested in systemic reform of the police including NGOs, local government officials, police, legal professionals and media.

The agenda of the workshop is as follows:

29 July, 2011

INAUGURAL SESSION
Time Topic Presenter/Resource Person

4.00 pm – 4.30pm

Registration

 Workshop Coordination Team (BLAST Khulna Unit + NU Representatives)

4.30pm – 4.40pm

Welcome Remarks

Mr. Fazlul Huq, Member, Board of Trustees, BLAST

4.40pm – 5.00pm

Introduction of participants

 
Session I Police Reforms in South Asia: An Overview

5:00pm – 5.30pm
  • Institutional Reforms in Bangladesh (model thanas; draft police ordinance ; community policing)
  • Judicial Reforms in Bangladesh (SC guidelines on arrest etc)
 Ms Muminunnesa, National Consultant, Victim Support, Police Reform Project, UNDP
Adv Qazi,Zahed Iqbal, Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh

5.30pm – 5.45pm

 Introduction to Citizen-centric Policing

  • features of citizen-centric policing (link to draft Police Ordinance provisions that would help achieve specific features of better policing)
  • how is it different from policing that exists
  • why is citizen-centric policing better

Ms Navaz Kotwal, CHRI

5.45pm 6.30pm

Perspectives from the Justice System

Superintendent of Police, Khulna
Chief Judicial Magistrate, Khulna
Deputy Commissioner, Khulna
DIG, Police, Khulna
District Judge, Khulna

6.30pm – 7.10pm

Open Discussion

 

7.10pm – 7.20pm

Speech of the Chief Guest

Mr Talukder Abdul Khaleq
Mayor, Khulna City Corporation

7.20pm – 7.30pm

Chairperson’s Speech

Adv. Md. Abdullah Hossain
President, Khulna Unit, BLAST

7.30pm

Vote of Thanks

Mr ZI Khan
Chairperson, Legal Aid and Human Rights Committee
Bangladesh Bar Council

30 July

9.00 am   – 9.25am

Registration

BLAST Khulna Unit

Session II: Police-Public interface  – FIR, Arrest and Detention (Group Work)
While the first session introduces policy debates on police reform, this session aims to facilitate interaction between local police officers and civil society organizations with a view to improve mutual understanding).

9.30am – 10.00am

Presentation: Police Powers and Citizens’ Rights

Adv.  Qazi Zahed Iqbal
Advocate, Bangladesh Supreme Court

10.00am – 10.30am

Case Study 1: Registration of FIR
(2 Groups will carry out improvisation based on this case study)

Case Study 2: Arrest and Detention
(2 Groups will carry out improvisation based on this case study)

 

Groups A-D

10.30am – 10.50am

Presentation of Case Study 1

Groups A and B

10.50am – 11.00am

Comments on Case Study 1

Adv.  Qazi Zahed Iqbal
Advocate, Bangladesh Supreme Court,
Ms Navaz Kotwal, CHRI

11.00am-11.15am

Break

 

11.15am -11.35am

Presentation of Case Study 2

Groups C and D

11.35am – 11.45am

Comments on Case Study 2

Mr ZI Khan Panna  Trustee, BLAST
Adv. Firoz Ahmed
Khulna Bar Association

Session III: Public-police interface – Violence against Women (plenary session)
Again, the idea is to facilitate interaction between police and the people to improve mutual understanding on the issue of VAW – difficulties faced by victims of such violence as well as by the police in investigating such cases.

11.45 – 12.15pm

Q&A

 Ms Sara Hossain
Advocate, Supreme Court
Ms Muminunessa, National Consultant, Victim Support, Police Reform Project, UNDP

Session IV: Police and the people(plenary session)
The objective of this session is to spread awareness on police initiatives to engage with people, how well they are functioning and how can they be strengthened. It also seeks to explain the philosophy of community policing, and that it should not be understood as policing by the community

12 15 – 1.00pm
  • Victim Support Centers (what does it do; how does it work)
  • One Stop Crisis Centre
  • Community Policing Initiatives (overview, achievements, challenges)
  • Legal Services (referrals from police)

Q&A

Ms Muminunessa, PRP
Khulna OCC Rep  [ TBC]
Khulna Police Rep [ TBC]
Adv. Tajul Islam,
Programme Officer, CIDA

1.00pm – 2.00pm

Lunch

Ms Muminunessa
Police Reform Project

2.00 pm-2.30pm

Case Study 3 – Domestic Violence
Case Study 4 – Rape

 

2.30 – 2.50pm

2.50-3.00pm

Presentation of Case Study 3

Comments on Case Study 3

 
3.00-3.20pm

3.20-3.30pm

Presentation of Case Study 4

Comments on Case Study 4

 

3.30-3.45pm

                                 Tea/Coffee break

 

3.45-4.15pm

Talk show: Police and the people

Advocate Firoz Ahmed
Mr Gourango Nondi, Kaaler Kontho
Police Representative [ TBC]

4.15-4.30pm

Concluding remarks

 
PrintFriendly

No related posts.

Leave a Reply