Monalisa, tough and tenacious

Two young men, begging for mercy, were dragged down the street by a determined woman. The scene may seem rather dramatic, but it happened in real life.

Additional police commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Monalisa Begum, laughed while describing the incident.

She said, "I saw some people damaging a vehicle near Kakrail. I told the constable to come with me. We ran up and caught four of them together. Later a case was filed with the Ramna police station."

Before she even graduated with her honours degree, the results of the 25th BCS exam came out. Her dreams came true. She promptly joined the police cadre.

After completely training at the Bangladesh Police Academy in Sardah, Rajshahi, she joined the Ramna branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. Since then, she has been working in Dhaka district, DMP headquarters, and now works at the Motijheel division.

During the political unrest, she had to work in extreme conditions at the Ramna division. She said, "I had to follow the journalists in order to catch the petrol bombers. The days were so stressful!"

When she was assigned the first case of her career, she managed to solve it overnight and that experience still helps her today. She said, "I heard of a murder at Eskaton. After reaching the place, I saw blood all over the floor and a woman of ethnic origin lying dead in the pool of blood.

“I couldn't find a single clue or the murder weapon, but then I remembered what Atik sir, who was the deputy commissioner of Ramna Branch at that time (deputy inspector general at present), had taught me.

“He told me over and over again, in any homicide case, the place where the murder takes place is the most important source of forensic evidence and that's where all the leads can be found.

“I examined all the utensils yet found nothing. Later, when I saw dried blood stains on a utensil from the kitchen, I was sure that someone from the house had done the murder.

“I examined the clothes in the bathroom, and found some blood stained clothes of the housemaid. After lengthy interrogation, the maid finally confessed and the case was solved.”

While working as an additional superintendent at Keraniganj, four people from a family including two children were murdered on 24 September 2015.

She had to form an investigation team to study the case technically. She had to go with her team to Chouholi, Sirajganj, to catch the killer.

She said, "The area was almost submerged in water and there was only one house on a small island. We kept going from one island to another by boat for three days but couldn't catch the murderer.

“There's no other way of communication except by boat, which became an advantage for the killer. He kept slipping away from our grip each time he heard a boat coming. After all our attempts were futile, we came back, sleep deprived for three consecutive days.

“After four hours of returning to Dhaka, we found out that the killer was in Pabna and we had to run again. Finally he was caught.

“All the five criminals were caught in that case within a short time and all of them got death sentences. That one case led us to detect two other similar cases. The criminals were from a circle of robbers. The guy who was murdered with his family was a robber himself, and was killed in a feud with the other robbers.

“While I spend my time running after crime and criminals, my family is deprived of my time.”

Monalisa has two children, one five and the other eight. “They have gotten used to my sporadic routine. My little boy is sad at times though,” she said.

She also said that she enjoys this life to the fullest. This profession is an opportunity to help those in trouble, especially girls. “Others won’t feel the oppression of women as deeply as I do.”

Speaking to Prothom Alo on 5 November, she said she just found out that rapists of a schoolgirl who had got away with the crime. She said, “That was five years ago. My heart aches when I conjure up the face of the skinny, tall girl in my mind. There are things we have no control over.”

Monalisa, who hails from Kishoreganj said, “When I was in school my mother used to ask me to return home before dark. It was like an adventure to stay out after dark. I tell my mother that now I have to pull an all-nighter for the sake of this job at times!”

*The piece originally published in Prothom Alo Bangla has been rewritten in English by Raisa Alam.