Widely discussed police officer Kohinoor Mia granted retrospective promotion

The government has granted retrospective promotion to Md Kohinoor Mia, a police officer dismissed from service around a decade and a half ago, elevating him to the rank of Additional Deputy Inspector General (fourth grade).

The decision was announced in a gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday.

Earlier, on 9 March, the government had decided to treat the period of his dismissal as active service, entitling him to all associated benefits.

Kohinoor Mia, who served as a Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the western division of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), had been removed from service on 22 February 2011 during the tenure of the Awami League government.

In a subsequent notification issued on 9 March 2026, the Home Ministry said the earlier dismissal order had been revoked.

The gazette noted that he had been awarded the major penalty of dismissal in two departmental cases. However, in two criminal cases filed over the same allegations, the courts acquitted him of all charges.

It further said that following a review petition, the President approved the reconsideration of the penalty, leading to the cancellation of the dismissal order. His period out of service will now be counted as active duty, and he will receive all arrears of salary, allowances, and other benefits in accordance with the rules.

The order takes immediate effect, the notification added.

During the tenure of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami-led four-party alliance government, Kohinoor Mia was regarded as a government’s trusted police official. After the Awami League assumed power, he reportedly fell out of favour and went into hiding at one stage. A member of the 12th BCS batch, he hails from Sadarpur upazila of Faridpur.

On 12 March 2006, a woman named Shahin Sultana Shanta alleged that she had been assaulted by police in front of Rapa Plaza in Dhanmondi. The incident occurred amid clashes between police and activists of the then opposition Awami League during a programme to lay siege to the election commission.

Shanta alleged that while attempting to take shelter in a nearby clinic with her son on their way home from school, she was dragged into a prison van and beaten by police personnel.

Two days later, on 14 March 2006, she filed a lawsuit with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Dhaka against then Deputy Commissioner Kohinoor Mia and a constable.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) later submitted a report stating that the allegations could not be substantiated. Challenging this, the complainant sought a judicial inquiry. After a prolonged legal process, the court in 2009 ordered the complaint to be treated as a formal case.

The charge sheet was eventually filed in 2021, and charges were framed in 2023. Recently, three witnesses testified but said they had no knowledge of the incident, after which the court acquitted Kohinoor Mia and the other accused.

In another case, two individuals, Sujan and Abu Taher, were shot dead during clashes between rival groups at a polling centre in Achargao High School in Nandail, Mymensingh, during pourashava elections on 5 May 2004. Although police initially filed a case, repeated investigations failed to identify any suspects, leading to multiple final reports.

In 2007, Awami League leader Rafiq Uddin Bhuiyan filed a case naming six individuals, including former MP Khurram Khan Chowdhury, then Superintendent of Police Kohinoor Mia, and pourashava mayor Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan Ujjal.

Following a court order, the CID filed a charge sheet against Kohinoor Mia and Ujjal in 2011. After lengthy proceedings, the court acquitted them, finding the charges unproven.