OPINION: Police brutality at its worst

Amid fasting, the heat and oversleeping, my only worry was being late for work, but that was before I was almost beaten up by a policeman for no apparent reason. We’ve all heard various stories of harassment by the “protectors” of our society but today I experienced it firsthand. Valor, honesty, righteousness are some of the words used synonymously for law enforcing forces; and today a few dozen people were beaten up by a police constable because they stood up to him for harassing a bus driver. I guess, doing the right thing, is actually wrong. Or is it the other way around?

Anyways, on my usual route to work, the bus I am riding on packed with passengers, stopped at its usual stoppage in Moghbazar to fill in more passengers. Suddenly a constable appeared, demanding to see the drivers’ license. When the driver enquired what he did wrong, the constable said he had wrongly stopped in the middle of the road causing a tailback. Which, as a witness I can claim, completely false. Furious for being talked back, the constable fiercely struck the side-view mirror with his baton. Being in the front seat, I instinctively covered myself from the flying pieces of shattered glass. Unfortunately, the person beside me injured his eye.

The story soon took a steep violent turn. Injured and angry, the bus full of passengers asked the policeman why had he done that? In a flash, his baton was in the air again, landing on whoever it could land upon. I was narrowly missed. But, I did not miss to shoot a video.

One of the passengers, however, retaliated by attempting to hit back with his umbrella. The fellow passenger, Shohag, 22, was swiftly taken by the police for “raising his hand on a cop”. The constable in question however, vanished. No question of his action was answered and instead all blame shifted to Shohag. Outraged, all the passengers got off and managed to free Shohag from the police’s clasp. The constable was still nowhere to be seen.

This is where I feel the need to ask, was that necessary? Can the ones enforcing the law (the penalty for driving an unfit vehicle can be a fine, license cancelation or even jail time) be the only ones to break it? Thirdly, how can one of our “protectors” consciously not think twice before tearing into public property? Or do we live in a country where beating up the innocent public just fine?