FIVE policemen were confined by angry villagers while fleeing after allegedly committing a robbery at a house in Ghasiara village in the early hours of Tuesday at Kaharol upazila in Dinajpur. In the mayhem that followed, mob set aflame the vehicle which carried the policemen, besieged the police rescue team and assaulted the DC. Such was the backlash.

The captured cops, including the OC of Kaharol police station, were later rescued by a team of Rab and BGB. Seven policemen were suspended and the ASP closed along with 18 constables of the Birganj upazilla.

If the law enforcers, in whom we repose our trust and count on them for security, turn out to be the law breakers themselves, public trust in their institution naturally erodes. This brings the people and the police on a confrontational course. For all we know this is not quite an isolated incident because policemen were sometimes picked up indulging in offences.

It is also a reflection of the declining law and order situation especially in the rural areas where people's hearths and homes are susceptible to crimes. And there's the regular complaint against police highhandedness at rural police stations. Villagers are sometimes denied of their basic rights to lodge complaints with the police. It is still a colonial ambiance in many places, where police acts more like a master. This must change.

We strongly urge the concerned authorities to embark on a serious investigation into the whole matter and mete out punishments to the perpetrators. We also like to point out that the hapless villagers should not be harassed by the police through instituting false cases en masse against them.

Just as police need to learn how to control mob so also