At least 15, 100 complaints against police officials were filed with the Police Headquarters Security Cell 10 months this year. The Police Headquarters Security Cell data reveals that in 2016 alone some 13,503 complaints against police officials were lodged. Most of the allegations were filed against police inspector to constable level policemen.
Not only had the SPs (Superintendent of Police) of Police Headquarters in each district received hundreds of allegations against on duty police personnel, but the Police also formed an investigation committee to investigate into each allegation but the reports have not seen the light of day.
A victim told The Daily Observer that the police also harassed who had lodged complaints against police officials to the Police Headquarters Security Cell or SP office in each district. The allegation, however could not be independently verified immediately.Six policemen were detained with Tk 17 lakh ransom money in Teknaf on Wednesday, around half an hour after the seven DB men freed a local trader they had abducted on Tuesday. The seventh DB men, who escaped the detention, surrendered before the law enforcers on Wednesday night.
The DB team kidnapped blanket trader Abdul Gafur, younger brother of Teknaf Municipality Mayor Moniruzzaman, from Cox's Bazar town and demanded Tk 50 lakh as ransom.
An allegation has surfaced that a CID sub-inspector has taken Tk 45 lakh as bribe from Anupom Banik, a co-owner of Mohammadi Trading International and Shahpur Tour and Travels at G-Net Tower in the capital's Fakirapool area. Following a media report on the allegation, the Criminal Investigation Department on Thursday suspended SI Susanta Kumar Rahut.
According to the case statement, Subhash Shingha Ray , Police Super of Faridpur district and his wife jointly opened 19 fixed deposit receipts (FDR) with three branches of the One Bank Ltd and deposited Tk 7.97 crore between 2013 and 2017. The accumulated value of the FDRs, including interest, now stands at Tk 8, 36, 13,367.
Meanwhile, officials of Khalishpur police station in Khulna are accused of gouging out the eyes of a detainee for not paying bribe
Preferring anonymity a high-up of the Police Headquarters told the Daily Observer that 721 criminal cases were filed against 798 police members in the last five years. The number of cases has remained almost the same in these five years. In 2016, 128 cases were filed and in 2012, it was 129.
A majority of the cases are filed against police officials of ranks between constable and sub-inspector.
Another statistics shows that the police have taken 67,039 disciplinary actions against their errant members. About 4-7% of these are major punishment, which include forced retirement and dismissals. In total, 517 people have been fired and 36 sent to forced retirement in five years.
The rest were minor punishment, such as suspension, demotion, salary cuts, reproof notices and transfers.
However, year-to-year figures show that departmental cases have not declined either. The number of punishment was the highest in 2014 standing at 15,297 and lowest in 2015 at 11,167. In 2016, it went up again to 13,503.
The police force currently has about 180,000 members, which means on any given year, 6-8% of the force is facing some kind of disciplinary action. Army personnel have done the right thing by detaining the seven officers of police's Detective Branch (DB) with ransom money in Cox's Bazar's Teknaf, said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal.
"Any citizen of the country can detain a criminal. Handing over the criminal to police and the army has done that," Kamal told reporters on Thursday at his office at the Secretariat in Dhaka.
