THE dressing-down that the parliamentary standing committee on the home ministry gave the police on Wednesday had been long overdue. According to a report published in New Age on Thursday, the committee, made up mostly of lawmakers belonging to the Awami League-led ruling alliance, accused the police of filing cases against ‘thousands of unnamed people’ immediately after violence—although ‘hardly 20 to 30 people take part in such violence’—so that they can use the cases ‘as a weapon of extortion.’ The committee also alleged that ‘plainclothes teams of [different] police stations are also involved in extortion’ and even suggested that ‘such plainclothes teams should be dismantled.’ The silence of the police officials against the barrage seemingly lent credence to the allegations raised by the lawmakers.
The committee’s accusations and allegations in regard to the police’s involvement in extortion would, however, stir very little surprise in society; for, the lawmakers have only echoed what most people have known and, perhaps, been forced to live with, for years now. Moreover, the committee appears to have woken up from its slumber very late in its tenure; after all, there have been innumerable instances of the police lodging cases against several thousand people in the wake of violence and vandalism, mostly surrounding programmes by the opposition political parties. Suffice to say, on each occasions, there were allegations galore of the police using these cases to extort people with the threat that anyone refusing to pay would face the charge.
Still, belatedly though, the committee’s conclusions and suggestions effectively debunk the myth that certain key functionaries of the AL-led government have sought to create—that ‘the law enforcement agencies have now been able to keep law and order under control compared to any time in the past—in the past four years and a half. In fact, as recently as on July 17, the home minister, who was not present at the committee’s meeting on Wednesday, insisted that ‘law and order is satisfactory’. Needless to say, the reality on the ground indicates otherwise. Besides, when the law enforcers themselves break the law, any talk of ‘satisfactory’ law and order could appear to be either delusional or denial.
Professional and personal commitment and competence of the police and some other law enforcement agencies has been on an alarming decline over the years, thanks largely to the partisan use of law enforcers by successive governments. Worse still, apparently to keep the law enforcers content, these governments have simply ignored the dire need of comprehensive reforms in the police department. Moreover, they introduced a somewhat twisted reward and punishment system, whereby law enforcers came to be rewarded for excesses and atrocities perpetrated on opposition political leaders and activists. Given the sense of impunity that such a system generates, it is perhaps only expected that more and more law enforcers are getting drawn to one crime or the other.
It is intriguing that the police top brass readily assured the parliamentary committee of expeditious enquiry into the activities of the law enforcement agencies and actions against those found guilty. In view of the past records of such departmental enquiries and actions, there are reasons to believe that these are employed more cover up than reveal what actually goes on within the law enforcement apparatus. Hence, it is imperative that an independent commission should be appointed to look into the allegations of crimes and malpractices against law enforcers, with the mandate to come up with recommendations for a comprehensive overhaul of the force.