The horrific experience of an assistant director of the central bank, picked up by a sub-inspector and his cohorts and tortured inside a police vehicle, is a chilling example of what can happen when upholders of the law become lawbreakers. The victim was beaten up and threatened with a false drug case and death by 'crossfire'. 

What is more frightening is that this incident is only the tip of the iceberg – we suspect there may be many such stories of errant policemen extorting money from ordinary citizens. Allegations of false cases being imposed on ordinary citizens and threats of dire consequences by lawless law enforcers have been frequent in recent times with only a few of them being punished for their crimes. The banker's ordeal became a news story possibly because he was a high ranking public official and the publicity of the incident in social media. We shudder to think what the fate of those who do not have the same status could be. According to a the news reports, an eyewitness has related how a young man had recently been picked up by police in their van from the same area and later released after paying a TK 1,500 bribe.

We urge the police authorities to carry out a quick, thorough investigation into this incident and make sure that the policeman, who has disgraced his uniform and organisation he works for, is punished according to the law of the land. It is graver when the keepers of the law break the law than when criminals do so.