But as we understand the matter is not so simple. In dealing with one’s rights our police should strictly obey the law and judgement of the Supreme Court defining the law.
Our politics being what it is, there is no realisation how dangerous it is to use police power for party politics. The government and the government’s party politics should be carefully kept separate so that police do not become enforcers of party politics.
In August this year our Supreme Court by a judgement delivered by his Lordship the Chief Justice SK Sinha deprecated the manner in which the respondent was being dealt with and directed that the respondent should not be shown arrested in connection with any other case unless there was true compliance of Section 167 of Code of Criminal Procedure. This should mean, he should be produced before a court and with the court’s order he is to be shown arrested and not otherwise. He must also be heard in the court.
The reality is that the police have become habituated to show an accused arrested in other cases without even the knowledge of the accused. This is also an easy way to foil the court’s order releasing a person on bail or acquittal. If the accused gets bail in known case the police comes forward with another case and he has been shown arrested in another case so he had to obtain bail in other case also. Thus an accused can be kept in jail even for frivolous cases.
The police must not feel free to play with the constitutional rights as regards liberty and freedom of an accused. It is part of the training of the police that they must respect human rights.
In the case of Mahmudur Rahman and another, the Chief Justice, and the other Lordships held it not permissible in law to arrest a person released by the court at the jail gate. The police have been doing this quite regularly. Sometime back there was a report which said that four persons disappeared from the jail gate after their release. As a result of such incidents the accused persons feel insecure to go to court to surrender. On the other hand police are eager to arrest them and take them into police remand.
Police are law enforcers and if they themselves break the law and harass the people in trouble seeking protection of law, respect for law diminishes in public life. They cannot ignore that to keep a person in jail before conviction is police justice and not judicial justice.
It is very important for the high officials in police to ensure full discipline among the police. They have to take legal proceedings seriously knowing that they are for the judicial process to function with certainty that no injustices will happen undermining both the police and the judiciary.
We have a very smart and capable police force and it will be a terrible loss for the law and order if police are used as abuser of law. It is not a desirable spectacle to see in the media pictures showing use of wildly wielding guns or sticks to deal with street protesters. Well-trained police have to be firm but restrained.
For a free country nothing is more frustrating than to see justice system is abused to deprive persons of their liberty and freedom. Let the politicians do whatever they choose to do but we must all maintain the sanctity of the justice system and remain civilised.
