HC order on DMP info collection March 13

The High Court today fixed March 13 for passing order on a writ petition filed seeking its directive on the government to stop collecting information about landlords and tenants by Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

The bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir fixed the date after concluding hearing on the petition, Jyotirmoy Barua, the petitioner and lawyer, told The Daily Star. 

Jyotirmoy, a Supreme Court lawyer, submitted the petition to the HC on March 3 praying to it to ask the authorities concerned to preserve those information which have already been collected and not to use these collected information until a specific law is formulated to this effect.

In the petition, the lawyer also requested the HC to issue a rule upon the authorities to explain why the collection of information about landlords and tenants in the DMP area should not be declared illegal.

He said there is no legal basis of collecting such information about tenants from their landlords, terming it a "violation" of rights to privacy.

Law secretary, home secretary, inspector general of police and DMP commissioner have been made respondents to the required rule.

The DMP on February 29 announced that it had been collecting “identification information” on landlords and tenants since November last year and asked all to provide the information by March 15.

It is part of an effort to create a central database of city dwellers and their service staff, and the move is intended to curb crime and create a “sustainable security measure,” DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Miah told the media on that day.