Police propensity towards crime

Recent police reports about the involvement of Sitakunda police in the rape of a woman, was shocking, disturbing. If the hapless victims of all sorts of crime have to face such insecurity and fear, then all hope is lost. And that is what happened to the woman at Halishahar in Chittagong.

The woman, who was a victim of feud over property, was raped and abducted. Then she was framed and arrested in possession of yaba and other drugs. The Sitakunda police filed a false case against here.

The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) and the detective branch (DB) investigation report stated that the false case had been instigated by the former officer-in-charge (OC) of the Sitakunda police police Iftekhar Hasan, sub inspector (SI) Siraj Miah, assistant sub inspector (ASI) Zakir Hossain and the woman’s former husband, the son of her present husband’s first wife and others.

The woman had been raped and abducted. Instead of rescuing her, ensuring she received medical treatment and arresting the rapists, the police arrested her in an unconscious state, planted yaba tablets on her body and falsely accused her of carrying drugs.

It is often heard that police extract money by threatening to frame people as drug traders or with other false accusations. But it is beyond imagination that a raped and unconscious woman can face such horror. It is alarming that certain members of our police force have sunk to such a level of depravity and crime.

It is also unfortunate that the police department did not take any action against those three police officers of Sitakunda out of their own volition. PBI and the Chittagong DB investigated the matter after receiving directives from the Chittagong district and sessions judge court. And even after their crimes were revealed, no action was taken against them. They were simply transferred.  And none of those who raped the woman, abducted her, and assisted the police in framing her, have been arrested. The victim’s husband filed a case against the police, but there is little hope that he will receive justice.

The crime has been so heinous that the police themselves should take action against the accused police personnel. Such propensity towards crime among the police is dangerous. It is a contagion for the police department, eroding the institution’s role to serve the public. People have lost trust in the police.

It is clear that the police’s departmental actions are not enough to curb this proclivity of the police towards crime. It has become necessary to form an independent police complaints commission.