Law event
Role of the police in a sound democracy
Emdadul Haque
Abook entitled “101 Questions and Answers about the Police” has been launched followed by a discussion programme on “Our Rights: The Role of Police in a Democratic Society” was held in the CIRDAP auditorium in the city on 30 August 2010.
The publication is the modified version in Bengali of the book, “Things You Wanted to Know About the Police But Were too Afraid to Ask,” developed and published by the New-Delhi based Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) earlier.
The Bengali version is jointly published by Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Nagorik Uddoyog (Citizens Initiatives) and CHRI.
The book launching and discussion events, organized by the three organizations, was attended by Barrister Shafique Ahmed, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, as the Chief Guest while Professor Dr. Mizanur Rahman, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission was the Special Guest.
Former Judge of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and Vice-President of BLAST, Justice Awalad Ali, two former Inspector Generals of Police- A. S. M. Shahjahan and Nurul Huda, Ms. Devyani Srivastava of CHRI, Advocate Z. I. Khan Panna of Bangladesh Bar Council's Human Rights Committee among others addressed the discussion.
Mr. Mohsin Ali Khan, Executive Director of BLAST delivered the address of welcome in the discussion while Dr. Uttam Kumar Das, Deputy Director of the South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies (SAILS) presented a summary of a two-day workshop on the same theme (“Our Rights: The Role of the Police in a Democratic Society”) preceded the book launching.
Noted Jurist and Chairman of BLAST, Dr Kamal Hossain chaired the programme moderated by Mr. Zakir Hossain, Chief Executive of Nagorik Uddoyog.
In the discussion Law Minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed urged the police forces to carry out their duties and functions within the periphery of law keeping in mind the serving attitudes towards the people.
He said sometimes police had to go in action for the greater interest of law and order of the country but must not work violating respective laws since they are the custodians of the law. He acknowledged that weakness in the investigation process and the lack of evidence and witness are the main impediments for the failure of the criminal prosecutions in the country. He termed the feeling of anxiety of the witness due to lack of witness protection as a big concern.
He further declared that the government is going to introduce witness protection law for the protection of witnesses and information providers.
He also stressed the need for restorative justice system and underscored the need of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to ensure easy access to justice even including in some areas of criminal proceedings like juvenile delinquency.
Professor Dr. Mizanur Rahman observes that police exercise superfluous power, malpractice laws and make whimsical arrests and detention but they ultimately fail to prove charges they bring against the arrestees leading up to the failure of conviction in 90% of the criminal prosecutions in Bangladesh.
"What power police do not have?" Dr. Rahman wondered adding that torture in the name of interrogation during the so-called remand and extra-judicial killings are unacceptable under any circumstances in a civilized state where human rights, security and dignity of people are the highest priority of the state, but unfortunately we are at a very shabby stage now in this regard.
He appealed the government to cooperate with the watchdog role of National Human Rights Commission and urged authorities concerned to look into the matter and relieve the people of the sufferings and concerns caused by the injustice of the law enforcing agencies.
The speakers also referred to the recommendations come out from the two-day workshop participated by 33 participants representing lawyers, police officers, human rights activists, and representatives from the marginalized groups. They urged for a humanized and forward looking police forces and hoped for a Bangladesh better and safer place to live and work in. Following are excerpts of recommendations from the workshop held on 28-29 August:
General recommendations:
-Compliance with laws including guidelines of the Supreme Court in arresting and detaining individuals.
-Introduction of human-rights and gender sensitive Criminal Justice System (i.e., legal reform, police and prosecutors educated and trained in human rights).
-Reform in the legal education (i.e., make it practical, contemporary and human rights-sensitive).
-Mass awareness about rights, obligations and legal remedies.
-Expansion of activities of human rights services (by government and non-governmental organizations).
-Expansion of judicial activism for protection of human rights.
For Police- Higher Level:
-Sensitization of police forces on human-rights issues through training and continuing education programees.
-Increase independence of the police (to work freely as per respective laws and procedures) and ensuring strict monitoring and compliance mechanisms and accountability and transparency in the forces.
-Establishment of an Independent Police Commission (incorporating independent members from the civil society) to look into the recruitment, posting and promotion.
-Initiative to increase number of police force proportionately to the population, including representatives of different communities, and ensuring a gender balance.
-Adopting a people friendly policing policy and community engagements.
-Undertaking Strategic planning to develop professionalism among the police forces.
-Enacting law and establish mechanisms and measures to ensure responsibility and accountability such as mechanism to address compliant against police.
-Developing people's friendly attitudes, behavior and culture among members of police forces.
-Undertaking reforms in the Code of Criminal Procedure, Police Act, Police Regulations of Bengal, and other related laws in the light of Constitutional obligations and international human rights standards.
-Review of the training curriculum and introduction of long-term and continuing training and education facilities for the police forces at various levels including that of on their specific duties and obligations under the law.
-Separate unit for investigation and protocol duties to ensure timely investigations
-Effective monitoring mechanism and compliance with law and procedures (i.e., introduction of incentives and punishment systems).
-Changing mindset of the police forces to be humane and not only obeying laws.
-Ensure transparency at all levels.
-Exercise of ethical values at all levels.
For Police- Field Level:
-Recruit personnel with higher educational qualifications.
-Training on motivation, leadership and attitude management.
-Extensive training on laws and its applications.
-Extensive training on human rights and gender issues.
-Training on modern crime prevention and crowd control.
-Training on Community Policing.
-Interactive dialogues among the police and the public on policing.
-Increase salary, allowances and other facilities.
-Independency to work freely as par the provisions of laws (free from political and other pressures).
-Evaluation of works- Internal watchdog to prevent and prosecute misuse of authority, and other bad practices, i.e., corruption etc.
-Install signboards in the Police Stations about various police services.
-Easy access for the public to register cases in case of violence against women and children. (Instead of the alleged practice of inquiry before registering the complaint).
-Exercise of power of bail by the Officers-in-Charge under section 496 of the Criminal Procedure Code. However, effective monitoring by the higher authority and related courts.
The writer is a Lecturer at the Department of Law and Justice, Southeast University, Dhaka.
