Always the small fry, big fish slip away: Home Adviser

Home Affairs Adviser Lt. Gen. (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said, “The main objective of the government is to ensure that no innocent person is punished, and no criminal goes unpunished. We always catch the small fries; the big fishes slip away. Efforts are underway to catch the ringleaders.”

He made these remarks while addressing a press conference after a meeting of the Advisory Council Committee on Law and Order at the Secretariat on Monday.

Replying to a query on the arrest of a rickshaw puller who had gone to place flowers at the capital’s Dhanmondi 32 on 15 August, the adviser said that the Chief Adviser’s Office had already issued a statement regarding the matter.

Directives were also given so that no untoward incident happens there, he added.

Responding to another question on why mob justice cannot be stopped, the Home Adviser said, it cannot be claimed that mob justice has completely ended.

Jahangir Alam further said although it has decreased in Dhaka, it still happens in surrounding areas. Even a mob incident took place in Rangpur recently, but the government is trying to reduce such incidents as much as possible.

Another newsperson drew his attention to the suspension of 18 police officials, including former DMP Detective Branch chief Mohammad Harun Or Rashid, due to workplace absenteeism. When asked if more suspensions could follow, the adviser said, “Suspension of police officers is an ongoing process.”

Regarding the arrest of Nasir Uddin, chairman of private television channel My TV, Jahangir Alam said, “Do not ask me about this, you rather ask the court. If the arrest was unlawful, the court would have released him. The judiciary is functioning independently.”