DCs against use of lethal weapons by police

A proposal has been raised from the deputy commissioners (DCs) to stop police from using lethal weapons like Chinese rifles, sub-machineguns (SMG) and 9mm pistols. Some of them even proposed to stop the use of shotguns and pellets.

The proposals have been submitted to the Cabinet Division ahead of the DC Conference. The three-day-conference starts 16 February at the Osamani Smrity Auditorium in the capital.

This is going to be the first DC Conference after the interim government assumed power. The Cabinet Division seeks recommendations from the DCs and divisional commissioners over different issues every year, which has been done this year too.

Sources in the Cabinet Division say they have received more than 300 proposals ahead of the conference this year. The proposals are being scrutinised. Some of these proposals are on police-related issues. Apart from the proposal to stop the use of lethal weapons, the DCs also sought jurisdiction to evaluate the performance of district police officials.

Satkhira DC Mostak Ahmed in his proposal wrote that the DCs are the heads president of the disciplinary committee at district levels. The UNOs (upazila) do the duty at the upazila levels. However, the UNOs and DCs do not have any official control over the law enforcement agencies. So it becomes difficult to implement decisions in most cases. Therefore, the DCs and UNOs should have the jurisdiction to prepare an evaluation report over the activities of the members of law enforcement agencies at respective levels.

The discussions over the use of lethal weapons by the police force came up centering the July uprising. According to the initial official account, some 826 people were killed in the uprising. The members of law enforcement agencies used lethal weapons arbitrarily to contain the movement. However, the law enforcement agencies are not allowed to use anything except batons, hot water, sound grenades, tear gas shells and pellets to contain a movement.

On 3 August last year, Prothom Alo published a report titled ‘Analysis of 175 deaths: 78pc of killed persons have lethal bullet wounds’, which said most of the people who were killed during the mass uprising of students and people had a single bullet wound on their bodies. Some had two. That means these were lethal bullet wounds. People also died of pellet wounds. Rokeya University student Abu Sayeed died of pellet wounds.

The Awami League government resigned on 5 August in the face of the July mass uprising. The new government has formed 11 commissions to carry out reforms in different sectors. The Police Reform Commission is one of those. In such a context, the proposal to stop police from carrying lethal weapons came from the DCs ahead of their conference.

Sylhet DC Sher Mahbub Murad said in his proposal that it has become essential to ban police from using lethal weapons and pellets. “We have seen from the experience of the July uprising that pellet wounds leave a long lasting adverse impact on the human body.”

Asked about his proposal, Sher Mahbub Murad told Prothom Alo, “While paying a visit to the persons who were injured during the July uprising, I realised that the police should not carry even a shotgun. The physicians also said the same. Therefore, I proposed to ban the use of lethal weapons and pellets.”

Police reform commission chief Safar Raj Hossain in an interview with the media in December said the commission will recommend limiting the use of lethal weapons. The police also have similar considerations. Now the question arises as to whether the police be completely banned from carrying lethal weapons.

Prothom Alo has spoken to several police personnel at field level over this issue. They came up with a different opinion.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, an officer-in-charge (OC) at a police station in Dhaka said, “The robber gangs carry lethal weapons nowadays. So what will the police do during the drives to detain the robbers.”

He further said, “There are many districts which are extra sensitive. The miscreants in these districts don’t even pay heed to shotguns. What will the police carry in those cases?”

The police official said the efficacy of the police force will be under question if the police are not allowed to carry lethal weapons.

Police sources say now the police forces use 7 point 62 and 9 mm calibre weapons. But the 9 mm pistols are more common. Apart from those, the police also have 7 point 62 mm Chinese rifles, sub-machine guns (SMGs) and light machine guns (LMGs).

Prothom Alo spoke to a retired top army official, who is also an ammunition expert, last July. He said the effective range of a bullet from a 9 mm pistol is 50 metres. However, it can be proven fatal from a distance of a few hundred metres too depending on the situation. Semi-automatic 7 point 62 mm Chinese rifles are lethal within a range of 300 metres. And shotguns are usually lethal within a range of 40-50 metres depending on the cartridge.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, former inspector general of police (IGP) said, “The proposal of imposing a complete ban on the use of lethal weapons by the police is an inconsiderate one. What if the police are attacked with lethal weapons? Then how will the police save themselves?”

He said the use of lethal weapons could be made limited.

At least three DCs made recommendations regarding the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of the police. They brought forward the Section 75/A of the Police Act of 1943 in this regard. The section states the district magistrate will submit their general evaluation on the top police officials in the district to the divisional commissioners in January every year. The divisional commissioner will then submit the report along with his or her own opinion to the deputy inspector general (DIG) of the respective zone.

Gaibandha DC Moazzem Ahmad said in his proposal that the main task of district magistrate is to maintain law and order in the district. The district magistrate mainly depends on the police to maintain law and orders. However, the provision of an annual report which reflects on the police officials’ behaviour and their relationship with people no longer exists. As a result, both the government and the district magistrates very often face embarrassing situations.

Sources in the district administration and police said the provision DC evaluation report on police officials was revoked during the military regime. There are objections from the police regarding launching it again.

The DC is the chief of the district disciplinary committee. The committee held meetings every month. However, in most cases, the superintendent of police (SP) remains absent in these meetings. Instead of the SPs, low-rank officials are sent to these meetings.

The police officials believe that the police force is also under the executive department like the district administration.  So why will an executive department be accountable to another executive department? They think the police should be accountable to only the judiciary or the elected public representatives.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, former police chief Nurul Huda said, “It’s not prudent to supervise an executive department through another. It’s a colonial idea that the DCs will submit evaluation reports on the activities of district police.“

The DCs also have made several other recommendations ahead of the DC conference, including declaring the DC office, district and session judge court, SP office and DC residence as key point installations (KPI) and ensure security in these points accordingly; inclusion of representatives from the DC office in the constable recruitment committee and formation of a specialised team to expedite the emergency services.

Some of the DCs also made district-wise recommendations. For instance, Bogura DC Hosna Afroza proposed to start commercial flights in Bogura.

The DCs act as the government representatives at the field level. They serve as the coordinators of implementation of the government’s policy decision and annual development plans at the field level. Therefore, the government took the proposals from the DCs seriously. A total of 212 decisions were taken during the DC conference in 2023.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Mohammad Khaled Rahim, additional secretary of the district and field administration sub-division under the Cabinet Division, said they received a number of proposals from the DCs ahead of their conference, including long, medium and short term plans. The proposals are under scrutiny now.

Meanwhile, the tradition of DCs meeting the president and national parliament speaker and exchanging views with them will not be held this year.

Public administration experts say the duty of the district administration and the police are to work for the people and two serve them. However, these two departments are at loggerhead with each other. As a result, people are not getting proper service from them.

Former secretary and Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC) rector AKM Abdul Awal said, “The unofficial powers of the police have greatly increased. So it is essential to bring them under control. But it is tough to reinstate the provision of DCs evaluating the police officials at district level. The provision was revoked in 1977.”

“The police have gained endless power in recent years. At the same time, the dignity of the DCs has been demeaned,” he added.

*This report appeared on the print and online versions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu