Policing News from Bangladesh
One killed in clash with police
[Apr 4, 2011]
30 injured and 1 killed during a clash between the police and madrassa students, who brought about a procession supporting the dawn to dusk hartal. [there are other articles though where the cops warn people that if any disturbances come about during the hartal they will take necessary action]
Boy tortured by police returned without justice, treatment
[Apr 14, 2011]
A 10 year old boy, suspected for the theft of an iron rod was picked up and detained. He was badly injured and returned to the parents without any justification or treatment.
Read More…
BSF kills 1 in Satkhira
[Apr 19, 2011]
A cattle trader was killed and another injured when Indian Border Security Force (BSF) opened fire on them early yesterday near Gazipur border in Satkhira.
BNP programme foiled
[Apr 17, 2011]
In protest to the words of the PM – Bangla National Party members along with several protestors began to rally. They were subverted by the police who ended up severely hurting at least 19 members of the BNP.
Police foil Jamaat rally
[Apr 5, 2011]
Law enforcers have foiled a Jamaat-e-Islami rally, scheduled at the city’s Muktangon, by charging batons and shooting teargas shells.
19 injured in clash of students, police in Dhaka
[Apr 13, 2011]
Dhaka – At least 15 students from Dhaka University and four policemen were injured in a clash that erupted after a policemen allegedly hurled abuses when a university bus flouted traffic rules.
Imperative of police professionalism
[2 April 2011]
Experts of all shades tell us in no uncertain terms that balanced socio-economic development is largely contingent upon good governance. According to their considered view this conditionality of governance is a sad deficit in developing countries including Bangladesh. It is no wonder, thus that the imperative of governance is too often highlighted by the pundits of development studies.
This writer has been of the view that to achieve balanced and harmonious growth the governance dimension of the regulatory organs of the government requires special attention; of such organs the professionalisation, particularly of the apparently corrective organisation of police assumes significance. Such a view is held with the conviction that ensuring equality in the eyes of law and its protection of all citizens irrespective of identity can be demonstrably guaranteed by the Police; and such guarantee would assure the human dignity that is a pre-requisite of harmonious development.
General strike cripples Bangladesh’s main cities
[2 April 2011]
DHAKA: Schools and businesses were shut in Bangladesh’s main cities Monday as an Islamic hard-line group enforced a nationwide general strike demanding the installation of Islamic law and the scrapping of a new government policy that gives women equal rights to inheritance.
The strike came a day after a student was killed and 25 other protesters were injured during a violent clash between Islamic hard-liners and police in western Bangladesh.Those protesters were demanding the government scrap its new policy that ensures women equal rights to inheritance, which they brand as anti-Islamic.
Where our strengths lie
[30 March 2011]
For most people the fortieth birthday is a sobering moment. You note your achievements, then take a deep breath, and as a sign of your growing maturity, acknowledge what you must do before it is too late.As Bangladesh marks forty years of independence, there is much to celebrate — but also some big “must do’s.”
We score high on our commitment to democracy. Although Bangladesh lurched from one military dictatorship to another in its early years, for the past decade the country has remained steadfastly on the path of multi-party parliamentary democracy. The interregnum of the caretaker government only served to strengthen the people’s resolve on democratic government.
The quality of our democracy, however, leaves much to be desired. State institutions are politicised, lack capacity and often suffer from corruption and nepotism. The political landscape is mired in confrontation and violence. There are ominous signs of more pre-poll violence in the run up to the Union Parishad elections.
Bangladesh police arrest former minister on war crime charges
[28 March 2011]
Bangladesh police today arrested a former Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker accused of crimes against humanity during the country’s 1971 ‘Liberation War’, hours after a special tribunal issued an arrest warrant against him.
Abdul Alim, 80, who was a cabinet minister in the government of former president Ziaur Rahman, was arrested from his house in northwestern Joypurhat district.
Earlier in the day, the three-member International Crimes Tribunal had issued an arrest warrant against Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader and asked him to appear before court in 24 hours.
“A police officer read out the tribunal’s warrant in presence of a magistrate as Alim visibly awaited it at his Thana road residence” in northwestern Joypurhat district, a journalist who witnessed the process told PTI by phone.
BANGLADESH: Police enjoy impunity despite torturing villagers and sexually abusing women in Dinajpur
[25 March 2011]
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received credible information that the Dinajpur police commited mass torture of villagers in Daptoir village of Biral upazila in Dinajpur district. The victims included men, women, children and the elderly. They suffered severe injuries and the women victims were sexually molested and abused. The police perpetrators remain unpunished due to the culture of impunity and the absence of legislation to protect the people from torture. The police have filed at least one case against the villagers and are harassing them. To-date no proper investigation has been carried out.
CASE DETAILS: (Based on interviews with the victim, witnesses, and examination of relevant documents)
On 8 March 2011, at around 1am a group of plain clothed persons knocked on the door of Mr. Shahjahan in Duptoil village under the jurisdiction of Forokkabad union council of the Birol police station in Dinajpur district. The strangers claimed to be from the police. Shahjahan’s family, who were aware of an incident which occurred the previous night when a group of robbers claiming to be police robbed the house their neighbor Mr. Suresh Mohuri, suspected that their house was about to be attacked by robbers in the same manner. The family decided not to open the door mentioning the previous night’s robbery. The strangers continued to knock on the door demanding that Shahjahan accompany the “police” to locate the house of Suresh Mohuri. Upon hearing this refusal the strangers, who were actually from the police shouted at the family in abusive language. The family, who were still uncertain of the true identity of the strangers then called to their neighbours on a cell phone that they were afraid of a probable attack by robbers.
IGP stresses on cops’ IT skills
[20 March 2011]
Dhaka, March 20 (bdnews24.com)—Police chief Hassan Mahmood Khandker has stressed that all officials in the law enforcement agency need to be skilled on computer and ICT.
“Police officials need to be efficient in computer operations and should have knowledge on information and communication technology [ICT] as Bangladesh police is becoming digitised day by day,” Hassan Mahmood Khandker said on Sunday.
Addressing the ‘Basic ICT Training Programme’ for field-level police officials, the inspector general of police said such trainings would help the participants in both professional and personal life.
The programme was organised at ‘Chhayanaut Sangskriti Bhaban’ in the city under the Police Reform Programme (PRP), a project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Bangladesh police disperse rioting students
[6 March 2011]
DHAKA – POLICE on Sunday fired tear gas and charged with batons to disperse angry students smashing vehicles at Bangladesh’s main Dhaka University after one of them died in a road accident.
Local police chief Rezaul Karim said they were compelled to take action after the students started hitting vehicles in the streets.
He did not say if there were any injuries, but student Jahangir Alam reported that several colleagues were hurt in the police action.The violence broke out after 25-year-old Redwan Ahmed died early Sunday at a hospital after he was hit by a truck the previous night.Karim said Ahmed’s father claimed his son’s body and was preparing for a burial. — AP.
Extra-judicial killings
[11 February 2011]
The chairman of the National Human Rights Commission makes a valid point. If indeed the security forces have had to act to defend themselves in crossfires and in the process shoot alleged criminals dead, there must be ways of validating such claims. Professor Mizanur Rahman has suggested — and one cannot but agree with him — that only the judiciary can determine if the principle of self-defence is a cause for law enforcers to kill their would-be assailants in extra-judicial manner. No one argues that in a skirmish where the Rapid Action Battalion and the police must defend themselves from criminal elements, they will do all they can to save themselves.
But then comes the critical issue, which is that the extra-judicial killings that have so far occurred in the country have nowhere been proved to have been definitive accounts of battles between the law enforcers and criminal elements. We have been told over and over again that those losing their lives were leaders of gangs that had fired on the security personnel and so had to be repulsed. It is a refrain which by now has turned into a cliché, for the simple reason that there has hardly been an instance in these so-called crossfires of any member of the security forces being killed or wounded. More amazingly, apart from the man killed in so-called action, no other criminal element ‘launching’ the attacks has been nabbed or wounded or killed. That is where worries have regularly been expressed by individuals and human rights bodies. The public expectation was that under the present government extra-judicial killings would be brought to a swift end. Unfortunately, that has not happened. Worse, senior government figures have of late given the impression of justifying these sordid acts as being defensive on the part of the law enforcers.
61 BGB men jailed for mutiny in Sylhet
[1 February 2011]
Sixty-one jawans of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Sylhet sector headquarters were yesterday sentenced to jail terms ranging from four months to seven years for their involvement in the 2009 mutiny.The BGB Special Court-14 headed by Col SM Farhad also fined them Tk 100 each. Of the convicts, six were handed highest seven years of rigorous imprisonment each.
The court started delivering the judgement around 9:00am, which ended at about 10:30am. The convicts were sent to Sylhet Central Jail immediately after the pronouncement of the verdict.
Bangladesh ‘death squad’ trained by UK police resumes extrajudicial killing
David Cameron set to raise issue with visiting Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina after UK connection revealed by WikiLeaks
Wednesday 26 January 2011 17.47 GMT
A Bangladeshi paramilitary unit that receives training from British police has resumed killing people in so-called “crossfire” incidents that human rights groups say are extrajudicial killings.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) – condemned by human rights group as a “death squad” – ceased the killings briefly after the existence of the British training programme was disclosed in US diplomatic cables posted on the internet by WikiLeaks last month.
However, the unit announced on 12 January that it had killed a 32-year-old man in Dhaka and since then has shot dead three more men in the capital.
AN APPEAL: Bangladesh Institute of Human Rights (BIHR)
BIHR is deeply concerned about the recent incident of physical assault and threats of Mr. Shahanur Islam, BIHR’s Executive Director and lawyer in Bangladesh.
During an investigation on the 9th of January, 2011 Mr. Shahanur Islam and his two fact-finding officers were physically attacked, threatened and looted all their valuable belongings in Thakurgaon district.This incident is unfortunately one of many that has taken place over the past few years, where Mr. Islam has been exposed to threats and assault as a result of his work to protect minorities in the country.
Human rights defenders are frequently subjected to harassment from authorities in Bangladesh. The incident must be investigated and appropriate sanctions be meted to the police authority in question.
BIHR urges for the immediate intervention to ensure the protection of human rights defenders and lawyers in their daily work in Bangladesh
Law and order situation
Jan 14, 2011
For the first time Home minister voiced concern about law and order deterioration
While the people are seriously worried over the deteriorating situation, the Satate Minister for Home Shamsul Huq Tuku claimed on Thursday that the law and order situation has improved and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hasan Mahmud Khandker said that law and order situation in the country is almost stable barring some sporadic incidents. Speaking at a discussion on current law and order situation, which was organized by Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) at its conference room, Shamsul Haque Tuku said: “Law and order situation in the country has improved compared to the past… I’m not fully satisfied though. I want to see a far better condition.” Expressing his satisfaction over the current law and order situation, IGP Khandker said: “I’m sure none will give negative comments if you conduct a survey. I believe most people will say law and order situation is stable now’.
Need for a “security manual”
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Security has become a household word for a twenty-first century man. Attempts to redefine “security” are now something of a cottage industry. Anywhere you go, any seminar of workshop you attend, you’ll have to listen to a whole lot of security issues and concerns which are worth paying heed to.
Analysts say, any attempts to elaborate a comprehensive definition of security may be a work in vain. However, the academicians think security can be used in three meanings. “Traditional meaning” is an attribute of state, absence of military conflict – “military security”. In a broader sense, security refers directly to the phenomena taking place in international relations, or directly/indirectly caused by inter-state relations. Security also means public good, and in a universal sense (of a unit and of a social entity) – human security.
Another ‘crossfire’ in Dhaka
Thu, Jan 13th, 2011 12:51 pm BdST
Dhaka, Jan 13 (bdnews24.com)—The so-called ‘crossfire’ or ‘gunfight’ has claimed yet another life in Dhaka — a third incident in last three days.
‘Apu’, 27, a resident of Bangshal in Old Dhaka and son of late Sheikh Ahmed, was gunned down in the early hours of Thursday near Chitra Cinema Hall.
Police recovered his body around 9am and took it to Mitford Hospital for autopsy.
Deputy director of RAB-10 unit Ismat Haider said Apu died in a ‘gunfight’ with the elite crime force at around 4:30am.
Stock market plunge sparks protests in Bangladesh
By JULHAS ALAM
Jan. 10, 2011
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh suspended trading at its main stock exchange Monday after a market plunge ignited protests by thousands of investors and security officials struck some with batons to disperse them.
The benchmark index rose 80 percent in 2010 but has fallen several times over the last few weeks. While its economy is growing, Bangladesh remains deeply impoverished and officials have said novice investors may not understand the nature of shares or how to evaluate quality.
Raising efficiency of the police force
Dhaka, Friday January 7 2011
POLICE Week was inaugurated last Tuesday by Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina. This is an annual event observed always with fanfare. The PM on the occasion addressed the members of the police force and exhorted them to discharge their professional duties with due diligence and integrity.
However, experiences over the years bear out that exhortations alone will not help lift up the functional abilities of a force that remains seriously handicapped from delivering its best for many factors, not necessarily all of them being endogenous to it. In the immediate past, the last caretaker government made some attempts to address a number of the issues that were bedevilling the performance of the force.
UK trained Rab: WikiLeaks
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The British government trained members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), The Guardian reported Tuesday quoting leaked US embassy cables and strongly criticising the UK role.
Pointing out that the Rab has earned bad reputations like a name ‘government death squad’, as given by Human Rights Watch (HRW), for their involvement in ‘extra-judicial killings’, The Guardian report said that British officials trained Rab men in ‘investigative interviewing techniques’ and ‘rules of engagement’.
One cable makes clear that the US would not offer any assistance other than human rights training to the Rab – and that it would be illegal under US law to do so – because its members commit gross human rights violations with impunity, the Guardian report said.
Community policing in Bangladesh
Friday, 17 December 2010
Razzak Raza
The PANCHAET system was the first ever known community policing initiative in ancient Bangladesh. In that system the local community leaders took up the responsibilities of keeping the peace in their own locality. In the British rule the system had been practiced for many years. The Indian Police Act-1861 legitimized an organized police force, and, simultaneously, ushered in the process of alienating the public from shouldering crime prevention responsibilities.
The Criminal Code of Procedures made it compulsory for the village chiefs and landlords to impart information to the police about any rioting and other serious offences committed or going to be committed in their jurisdiction and land. The then superintendent of Police in Mymensing district, with the active participation of the local community members formed a ‘Town Defense Party’ in 1992. It was the first police-public joint initiative to solve local crime problems.
Links between law & order and institutions for growth
FE Editorial
20 October 2010
THE police and related law enforcing agencies need to make an objective and serious review of the current state of the country’s crime situation. There is no scope for taking comfort in statements that do come at times from the responsible functionaries of such bodies, claming improvements in the law and order situation throughout the country. Rather, the situation, as the reported incidents in the media do indicate, continues to remain critical. The nature and form of crimes are changing, much to the chagrin of the citizens.
The latest reports in the country’s media do unmistakably suggest that the cases of murder, hijacking, toll collection, extortion, snatching, kidnapping, child lifting, dacoity et al have been on the rise. During the first seventeen days of the current month alone, 21 people were killed in the capital city. And unknown gunners were reported to have shot and injured three members of a family at their residence in Gulshan area in Dhaka last Monday. The ‘criminals’ of all sorts are, thus, most brazenly demonstrating their power, defiance and damn-it-all attitude at ease. In most reported cases, the law enforcers have not been able to nab the criminals involved in those incidents. The state of law and order is hardly any better in most other places outside the capital city.
Violence mars Durga Puja festivities in Bangladesh
Sunday, October 17, 2010 11:05:45 AM by IANS
Dhaka, Oct 17 (IANS) Attacks by drunken mobs and even policemen on Hindu devotees and Durga Puja marquees in many parts of Bangladesh marred the festivities of the country’s minority community even as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stressed on the virtues of secularism.
Reports of violence came from across the country as the biggest religious festival of the minority Hindu community ended Sunday.
The authorities withdrew policemen and closed down a police station after cops were found attacking Puja Mandaps, the makeshift bamboo-and-cloth marquees erected for the festival at some places, bdnews24.com, a newspaper website reported.
In Narayanganj, just outside Dhaka, two people were arrested for vandalism, loot and attack on a Puja pavillion at Tanbazaar.
Witnesses said at least 10 people were injured when around 15 drunk men attacked Hindus devotees, who were dancing at a pavilion in Minabazar area of Tanbazar early Saturday.
Bangladesh Police Superintendent Physically tortured minority women to withdraw a case against criminals
October 24, 2010
HRCBM-Dhaka, 22 October, 2010 (Dhaka, Bangladesh) : In addition to criminals, right wing political party cadres, opportunists and islamists, now evidence abound that elements within Bangladesh law enforcement agencies are out to torture country’s volunerable minorities.
According to report, Minority Housewife physically tortured by Superintendent of Police, Madaripur district of Bangladesh because she did not agree to withdraw case against perpetrators of crime , revealed in a press conference (The Daily Jugantor dated 18th of October, 2010, The Daily Janakantha dated 18th of October, 2010 and The Daily Janata dated 20th October, 2010).
Uttam Banerjee of HRCBM-Madaripur Dist Unit verified the incident and stated that, a Hindu woman named Ms.Shila Mullick wife of Bhupendra Nath Mullick of village -Aruakandi was brutally tortured at Rajoir police station within Madaripur District of Bangladesh on 21st of October, 2010 around 11 A M in the morning.
It is learnt that the victim is neither an accused nor of any offender in connection with any criminal offence in Bangladesh. She went to office of Superintendent of Police, Madaripur to get proper justice in connection with Rajoir P.S. case No. 08 dated 20.08.2010 under section 148/323/379/307/326/386/114 of Penal code filed by herself alleging that offence of section 326/307/386 of penal code against criminals had already been stricken by O.C. Rajoir P.S. with a view to give impunity to the offenders of Rajoir P.S. case No.08 dated 20.08.2010. Before her meeting she was allowed to enter into the Chamber of Mr. Sardar Tomizuddin Ahmed, S.P. after an hour waiting and she was taken in to a solitary room for interrogation and during interrogation she was physically tortured.
Extrajudicial killing
Why can’t it be stopped?
Editorial
Monday, October 4, 2010
We cannot but express our serious concern at the report published by a human rights organisation Odhikar in Bangladesh that every three days, one person falls victim to extrajudicial killings. There have been ninety such deaths between January and September of the current year. And the aggregate figure killed since early January 2009 when the Awami League coalition government assumed office, that exceeds 200, conveys a horrendous picture. That is what causes us concern, and calls for a government probe into the magnitude of the number.
According to the description of the law enforcing agencies, all those killed are hardened criminals with several murder charges against them or members of some outlawed political group that had indulged in killing innocent villagers. Be that as it may, such manner of extermination, either by crossfire or in encounter with the law enforcing agencies, or indeed in custody of the police, is an euphemism for ‘justice’ being meted outside the process of the established legal system. It admits of no excuse and the perpetrators must be brought under the purview of the law.
‘Make sure children do not end up in jail’
6 October, 2010
Dhaka– The law minister has urged judges and prison officials to double-check age of any convict to make sure that children do not end up in jail despite police claim on the contrary.
Speaking at a two-day international conference titled ‘Locked up and forgotten’ at Police Staff College in the capital’s Mirpur area on Wednesday, Shafique Ahmed called for reforming the judiciary and urged officials concerned to ensure that no innocent person is confined in jail by mistake.
Representatives from all SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries, UK, USA and Germany are attending the conference, which is part of a joint project of the home ministry and German technical co-operative (GTZ) titled ‘Improvement of the real situations of overcrowding in prisons’.
Two epoch-making verdicts
By Haroon Habib
9 September 2010
The supreme judiciary in Bangladesh has made it clear that martial law has no place in a civilised country that has a Constitution. The people of Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, had a dream: that the new-born nation should not be revisited by military rule and the suspension of the Constitution by unconstitutional rulers. But this did not quite come true. The vices revisited it only three and a half years after its independence in 1971. Its founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was assassinated and military rule reappeared.
During the killings of 1975, four key leaders of the independence movement were gunned down inside jails. The bloodbath changed the course of Bangladesh’s history. Following the path of Pakistan, the legacy of which Bangladesh had sought to discard, over-ambitious Generals grabbed power, changed the Constitution at will, even amended it with retrospective effect. The country saw killing and counter-killing, including that of Colonel Abu Taher: the national hero had lost a leg in the liberation war and was honoured with the highest gallantry award of Bir Uttam. The victims of the post-1975 killing spree were mostly freedom fighters who took part in the national war against Pakistan.
Bangladesh: Information on police protection in Bangladesh.
By the Ireland Refugee Documentation Centre
20 September 2010
In a section titled Politicising The Police this report states:
Political and bureaucratic interference are the most significant impediments to police efficiency and have resulted in the worst forms of abuse including illegal detention, death in custody, torture and pervasive corruption. The result is almost universal public disdain for the police force. A former IGP explained that this sentiment is certainly justified: Most of the perceptions of the police being unresponsive to the public, politicised and involved in human rights abuses and corruption are true . (ibid, p.14).
101 Q&As about the police
Muhammad Nur Ul Huda
September 4, 2010
The Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Nagorik Uddayog and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) have published a booklet titled 101 Q&As about Police. It was formally launched on August 30 in a function that was graced by the chief guest, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Barrister Shafique Ahmed, and chaired by eminent jurist Dr. Kamal Hossain.
New IGP vows pro-people police force
September 1, 2010
Newly appointed Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hassan Mahmood Khandker has vowed to restore the image of police department and make the force pro-people.
“I’ll try my best to make sure that the police force is no longer used as a repressing force”, he said, adding, “I’ll endeavor to discharge my duties with sincerity and earnestness.” The new IGP, also the outgoing director general of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), said these at a press briefing at the Police Headquarters after he took over the charges from the departing police chief Nur Mohammad yesterday.
Whither Draft Police Ordinance, 2007? Police reform cannot brook further delay
Monday, August 23, 2010
It seems that the Draft Police Ordinance, 2007 has been sent to the backburner. We note with considerable dismay the fact that even after three years of its submission to the government and a very extensive public discourse on the matter the proposals have not found a concrete shape. We wonder why? It is worth repeating that the need to change the archaic police ordinance of 1861 has been long felt and therefore overdue. Given the state of law and order in the country, and the blatant politicisation of the police during every regime, with appointments to responsible positions made on political consideration rather than on merit, the matter of police reform assumes pressing urgency.Read More…
Trained police officers should stay for a reasonable period at their workstation
1 August 2010
Speakers at a workshop opined that the trained police officers should stay at their respective workstations for a reasonable period so that they can render improved service to the people. They made the opinion at the workshop on Implementation of Gender Guidelines for the OCs of model Thanas organised by Police Reform Programme (PRP) held on Sunday, 1 August at Rajarbagh Police Lines, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). The Police Reform Programme (PRP) organised the workshop. The PRP is providing various training to the police officers for building their capacity in order to improve human security in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh opposition stages general strike
BBC News
27 June 2010
Most Bangladeshis have observed a general strike called by the opposition – the first for more than three years in the country. There were minor clashes as police arrested about 200 people. The anti-government Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies had called the strike to highlight the government’s “failures and excesses”.
Bangladesh police in Haiti
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Razzak Raza
May 26, 2010
On 15 May 2010, Bangladesh became the part of UN Peacekeeping history by sending her first batch of women police to the quake-ravaged Caribbean county, Haiti. It is not new from the part of Bangladesh Police to serve overseas, as they marked their first impression in Namibia in 1989. It is not also new for the women members of the Bangladesh law enforcement agency to serve in the UN mission. The first Bangladeshi women police served in Timor Leste in 2000. At this moment more than 1,608 Bangladeshi Police officers are working in the UN.
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