& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Cops enjoy little public trust

TIB survey finds 98.5pc city residents dissatisfied with police

Staff Correspondent
An overwhelming majority of people places little confidence in police, an antigraft body's survey revealed yesterday, promptingleading civil societymembers to callforimmediate reformsoftheforce.
About 98.5 percent residents of metropolises and vast majority at district and upazila levels are equally dissatisfied with the service of police, said the survey conducted by Transparency International,Bangladesh(TIB).
Police should be at the service of people and act as a friend and service provider, butthelaw-enforcers have now emerged as "repressors, corrupt, human rightsviolators", itadded.
People have to bribe the police to file a complaint in 91.5 percent police stations in metropolitan areas, 85.7 percent at districtand81.6percentatupazilalevels.
They need to pay between Tk 1,000 and50,000 to the law-enforcers inmetropolitan areas,
SEE PAGE 11 COL 1 FROM PAGE 1
Tk 500 and 20,000 at district and Tk 800 to Tk 5,000 at upazila levels if a case is pending.
People have to pay between Tk 20 and Tk 200 in metropolitan areas and Tk 10 and Tk 100 at district and upazila levels to meet a prisoner.
Commenting on the findings of the survey, speakers sought a proactive role of the civil society to make police efficient.
They expressed concern over the 'over-performance' of the police, who they said usually did not perform according to the law.
The civil society should raise its voice against the over-performance of police, said Gano Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain.
Stressing installation of the office of the ombudsman, Dr Kamal, a prominent jurist, said such an institution was required to make the police accountable.
He called for keeping the lawenforcers out of political influence to establish the rule of law.
Police have introduced an arbitrary taxation system because of scant resources allocation, said Prof Muzaffar Ahmed of Dhaka University.
Police take taxes from people who want their service, he said, adding it should not be accepted under any circumstances.
Both of them disagreed with the survey findings that blamed the underperformance of police on inadequate allocation, transportation, communication devices and frequent transfer.
Former law minister Abdul Matin Khasru expressed grave concern over police excesses on opposition activists and students at Dhaka University, saying the government should remain accountable to people for police action.
The Bangladesh Chapter of Transparency International organised the function at CIRDAP auditorium marking the launch of its study on police activities in three police stations -- one in a metropolitan area, one in a district and another in an upazila headquarters.
Ruling BNP legislator Abdul Mannan said irregularities and corruption must be
erased from the police department to reverse people's hostile attitudes to the law-enforcers.
"All governments in the past had used police in repressing their political opponents. So, we should not blame them (police) always... they need adequate training, salaries and remuneration," he said.
Opposition Chief Whip Abdus Shaheed said political use of police should be discarded as it contributed to the growing public outrage against the force.
Presided over by TIB Chairperson Khan Sarwar Murshid, Awami League Whip Faruk Khan, former cabinet secretary Mojibul Houqe, former secretary Dr Shawkat Ali and former inspector general of police Golam Kibria took part in discussion.
The study said the officer-in-charge of a police station in Dhaka worked 18 hours and sub-inspectors in all police stations 13-16 hours a day without any entertainment facilities.
It said 90 percent stationery costs of a police station were taken from the service-takers, adding the government allocated a police station detainee only Tk 5 a day, which was not always available.
It said 37.8 percent of illegal income of the city police, 35.7 percent of district headquarters police and 43.2 percent of upazila police stations come from unauthorised traders like video businessmen, street vendors and clothes traders.
It said the gap between government allocation for a police station and its expenditure was also very high, that stood at Tk 18 lakh at a city police station, 8 lakh at a district headquarters and Tk 3 lakh at a upazila headquarters police stations.
The study suggested reforms in the 1861 police regulation act, to raise the salaries of policemen, recruit adequate police, end the use of police in political purposes, activate the monitoring system and providing them with modern equipment and introduce a computerised data processing system.