Confession has been losing its significance in Bangladesh's judiciary. Once the statement given to the police meant something, but now it seems like stories of a forgotten past.
It is unofficially accepted in our judiciary that there is no value of the statement given under article 161. All the value is in article 164 as, under this, the statement is recorded by the official of the judiciary.
The statement under article 161 is recorded by the police. By law, the magistrate, prior to taking any statement, can investigate whether anyone is giving a false statement being forced or tempted. The magistrate will record the testimony according to his conscience, but such notions are being shattered due to all the incidents taking place here.
A 15-year-old mentally handicapped girl in Narayanganj was allegedly abducted. The police admirably had arrested three suspects who ‘confessed’ to the judicial magistrate that they had strangled the girl after rape and dumped her in the river Buriganga. The ‘dead’ girl has returned after 51 days.
There does not seem to have any initiative on part of the police in order to prevent the loss of acceptability regarding the confession given to them. There is enough reason to suspect that some police have become reckless to grab money. Some people in the police administration can go on with the confidence that punishment is not inevitable despite breaching discipline. It can be assumed from the Narayanganj incident that the accused were forced to confess to ‘dumping the girl in river’. Such plots would not have been arranged without utmost willfulness or confidence over guaranteed immunity. Or else, why would someone risk unwanted dangers arranging such a plot? Rather, there was a risk of falling in trouble.
What really happened in the abduction requires investigation, but it is not possible to stop culprits of such incidents with the image police created during the pandemic. The imagination and talent of the officer-in-charge of Narayanganj sadar police station is really intense and bewildering. He suspects that the detained accused may have dumped the body of another girl and, therefore, require remand. He, however, is silent over the allegation of embezzling Tk 47,000 from the three accused threatening remand. Such a situation should be taken seriously by the conscientious policymakers in the criminal justice system and the police. Otherwise, people would not believe any police statement anymore.
This is a harsh reality. Top policymakers of the police should come out of the conventional response considering that introspection of the police is essential. The police should not be offended by this. Not only the police, but also the entire judiciary related people should remember that without preventive measures neither the people seeking justice nor the police will survive.
For this, some systematic changes are required including not involving anyone from the police department to lead an investigation against the police. An additional police superintendent will probe the questioned police investigation in Narayanganj. In addition, it’s not less worrying that no deadline was set for the three-member committee.
We expect that the truth will be unveiled and culprits identified upon the investigation, but there is acute distrust and suspicion among the people regarding revelation of police irregularities through the police.