It should not be happening to the people of Bangladesh who suffered much injustices and pain under Pakistan but it is happening to us as if nothing better could be expected from us. The police power is being so abused that an innocent fears the police more than a criminal. While the criminals are being used as political thugs, the judiciary becomes a target for elimination. These ideas were not our ideas of politics in Pakistan days. That made us different from the West Pakistan rulers and gave rise to full autonomy.
The practice is such now that many a time a person is arrested by police not to make him face a trial for any offence he has committed but to keep him imprisoned without trial.
The politicised police has made life insecure for all. We expected our police in Bangladesh not to be like the police in Pakistan days. They should be people’s.
Blaming police is not everything. The political leaders went wrong, and as failed leaders they did the worse to our people. Bangabandhu changed himself to be a revolutionary leader without any revolution.
The judiciary and the police together make the justice system the pride for a civilised nation. In Bangladesh the opposite is true. Especially the lower judiciary has very little or no backbone to say no to the wishes of government as expressed through prosecution or law ministry. Blaming the lower judiciary for being submissive is not the whole truth, the nation lacks courage to say or do right things against the whims of the government. The freedom fighters who returned from India as heroes, also do not show any heroism in defence of people’s freedom in Bangladesh. The politics has become a money making business.
Under the politicised police and their predominance, the law is not what it should be. The police and security agencies are all powerful. The law is not for the protection of the people.
In the present situation till the case comes up for trial, the role of the judges hardly matters. But it should not be so because, as an accused, he is under the care of the court all the way since he is produced in the court. The magistrates are required to visit jails to see how jails are managed. But they rarely visit jails.
Arrests have become of two kinds-one for being a political opponent and the other on suspicion of a crime. The requirement of Section 54 of Criminal Procedure Code about satisfaction of a prima facie case is not given due importance.
The superior courts have been reminding the police about the necessity of their satisfaction after a preliminary enquiry before arresting anybody. But it has yet to be taken seriously by the police before implicating persons in offences. The police arrest a person, so the court puts him in jail and it is done almost as a matter of course. But if under the law he is to be treated as innocent unless the court finds him guilty, why should his liberty be forsaken? We cannot deny that the Constitution does not exist though to the government, not functionally.
The under-trial prisoners are to be in jail waiting for trial soon to be held. In our system, imprisonment may go on for months and years. Other than making the accused face the trial, there is no justification for keeping them in jail. In case they disappear, the courts are free to try him in absentia. So it is inhuman to send persons for imprisonment as soon as FIRs are filed. It is contributing to making Bangladesh a lawless cruel country.
The idea of imprisonment though convicted should not be such as to turn them inhuman. A convict is punished so that he can change his criminal ways and be socially rehabilitated.
The police must not be a source of danger. But under the present system, creating fear is a political obligation for the police. As if we have killers and terrorists everywhere. The truth is returnees from India came with idea that they freed us and occupied us. They are not bound by law because they are freedom fighters. As they knew their weaknesses, they were eager to show off their success. A true freedom fighter should protect our people’s freedom against the deniers.
Frequent use of torture in police custody is open and known to everybody but the practice still goes on unimpeded. The USA has sanctioned some high police officials for their arrogance in killing people and causing disappearances. In free Bangladesh, instead of peace and safety, began a new era of lawlessness.
Various international bodies including Amnesty International expressed their concern and urged the relevant authorities in Bangladesh to stop the practices. But such international concern or guidelines as provided by the Supreme Court have no impact.
The police abuse the remand situation in many ways. The accused can be tortured and intimidated, even raped in case of a woman. The police can take advantage of the dreadful situation of remand to implicate an innocent of no crime. All these activities are not unknown to judges, yet, police have no problem in obtaining remand orders.
The Supreme Court has laid down the guidelines to follow if remand in police custody is permitted. It is for the courts to make compulsory for the police to recognise the accused’s right to have the presence of his lawyer. Obviously, the lawyer’s presence is not convenient to the police and not allowed. The courts are too worried about enhancing the police power to exercise their own power about police accountability to the court.
The anxiousness of doing justice is accepted as a legal principle because, for the seriousness of doing justice, it is considered to be better that let ten guilty persons go unpunished than one innocent to be held guilty. But in our situation it is easier for the guilty ones to go free if he has the right connections or money.
As police are more frequently used politically, they can be carefree about abuse of their power. It has also become easier for them to be complicit in crime. Professional strictness of police has been tempered.
The stratagem for enfeebling the judiciary is a plot that came into effect with the birth of Bangladesh. Generally speaking, life in Bangladesh is miserable and short.
To our utter surprise Rakkhi Bahini was formed for secret killing.
In Bangladesh the law is for the power the police to enforce but justice is more a matter of conscience of the judges. The fear of law is all pervasive but justice with conscience is all the more difficult. This is not the way to build a civilised nation.
Already for the law not being a protection to the people, the country has become anarchic in all spheres. Â
(The writer is Chairman, Editorial Board, The New Nation)
