IN these days the functions of the police force seem to be multiplied as well as diversified at a geometrical progression. According to the Police Act. 1861 maintaining law and order is the principal function of the Police. Section 23 of the said Act provides: "Duties of Police Officers: It shall be the duty of every police officer promptly to obey and execute all orders and warrants lawfully issued to him by any competent authority, to collect and communicate intelligence affecting the public peace: to prevent the commissions of offences and public nuisances: to detect and bring offenders to justice and to apprehend all persons whom he is legally authorised to apprehend, and for whose apprehension sufficient ground exists: and it shall be lawful for every police officer for any of the purposes mentioned in this section, without a warrant, to enter and inspect any drinking shop, gaining house or other place of resort of loose and disorderly characters."

It appears the police are not satisfied with such statutory limitations on their very roles! So they go on extending their functions. The police nowadays rape women taken into safe custody or foreign national coming to police station for help, participated in the dacoity with inter district dacoits. harass businessmen for money, kill varsity student inflicting third degree method of torture and even dump dead body of their driver in the rooftop water tank at the helm of the so called Detective Branch (DB).

The Detective Branch or the Death Branch!

Jalal Ahmed Shafi's decomposed body was found in the rooftop water tank at the Detective Branch at Minto Road in the city on March 25 1999. After much speculation, the body was identified seven days

later March 31 after a driving license was found (!) in the same water tank. Last year Shamim Reza Rubel, a BBA student of the Independent University of Bangladesh (1UB) was brutally killed in the same premises bv the DB men on 23 July fo'r reasons still best known to them. In fact the Detective Branch has turned in to the Death Branch of the police. Following the barbaric death of Rubel, the government formed an Inquiry Commission led by Justice HabibUr Rahman Khan.' a former judge of the High Court Division to recommend corrective measures. He submitted his detail report to the Ministry of Home Affairs proposing a number of reformative steps including reorganisation of the Detective Branch. But the govern ment did simply nothing. Even the report was not made public. Had the recommendations been Implemented earlier the death of another civilian could be avoided. Can the government elude the liability of this brutish murder?

Generally detective or special investigation units comprise intelligent and efficient officials of the police. They have to undergo different professional training at different stages. They usually maintain a very low profile for the sake of the confidentiality of investigation. Their activities are routinely monitored and super-visea by the concerned authority. They do not enjoy indiscriminate discretionary power. They are answerable for their commission and omission to proper authority. They are free from any outside or unauthorised interference.

In our country these fundamental global trends and practices are totally ignored. Any official can be transferred to the DB of the police. In most cases the DB was used as a dumping ground for inefficient or defiant officials. They do not

need to take any professional training. The DB men like to maintain a very high profile here. Their activities are not monitored or supervised by any authority. In fact they lack coordination totally. They are not accountable at all to anybody. Even there is no effective inter-

nal 'control over their activities They enjoy a wide discretionary power. The abuse of power is also rampant here. They have to face political interference frequently. Often they are used for petty political interests of the ruling party. They are also not well equipped. As a conse-

quence of all this the DB becomes total inefficacious.

The Unabated

Custodial Crime

Custodial crime is not a new phenomenon but today it has assumed startling and enormous proportions. It has taken various forms such as torture in custody, rape, custodial death and brutal and inhuman treatment of prisoners, whether undertrails or convicts. The latest addition in this list of sufferers is persons arrested unlawfully or on vague suspicion. Moreover, custodial crimes often do not come to light because they are perpetrated in the dark cells of lockups and prison house and often enough, those who are victims of custodial crime are afraid of complaining to the Magistrate lest they might be subjected to further ill treatment and torture by the police. The victims of custodial crimes do not have any witness to the commission of such crimes. It is indeed unfortunate and shame on humanity that physical violence in police custody, a legacy of British rule in the subcontinent. for extracting confession and obtaining clues for investigation without any legal sanction have been increasing at an alarming rate.

Custody violence commonly known as third degree method which includes beating at joints, spreading powered chili on the eyes, kicking on the chest and the back, electric shock, hitting with rifle butt, inserting boiled egg into the annul passage, pouring hot and cold water on the face, forcing •to drink urine, uprooting nails and so on. is no doubt, extremely shocking to the conscience of the humanity.

To Do or not to Do

The relationship between the police and the people is constantly deteriorating day by day. Rampant corruption, functional inefficiency and

behavioral savageness of the Rollpe have reached at the ignest peak. The chain of command of the police has been broken down. Political interference in the day to day functioning of the police has crossed all past records. The recent flow of deaths and rapes In police custody exposes once again its inherent tendency of being viewed with a philosophy of paramilitarism associated with the mechanism of awe. threat and coercion. Nobody could possibly Justify any rationale behind the use of force, coercion and physical violence to any detainees in police custody as a suspect in the view of the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution and the legal protection under the various statutes apart from the human rights declared by the international community. In fact the need of the hour is an organisational culture that condemns abuse of power and misuse of ' force and encourages pro people policing.

All those who are concerned with the arrest, detention and custody of people and particularly of the poor and vulnerable sections of the society must strictly implement the constitutional and legal protections and safeguards. It is necessary that the guardians of law and the custodians of lock-ups and prison houses should be made aware of the constitutional and legal rights of the people. It is really a pity that on the threshold of the 21st century, the people of Bangladesh living in a sovereign, democratic republic and governed by the rule of law (!) are still vulnerable to custodial physical violence. It is high time to reform the police from top to bottom. Otherwise people will start rejecting their lawful authority and the very role of maintaining law and order. Are we prepared for that?

mkabir@bdcom.com