Bangladesh Police has not become a fearful authority and a symbol of brutality in a single day. Lack of legal reforms and improvident adaptation of colonial legislations have gradually brought out the monstrous face of this law enforcement agency. The extrajudicial killing of Major Sinha Mohammad Rashed Khan and the association of Bangladesh Police with this incidence has brought the year-old question again in front of the people living in a democratic country.
Despite rebuilding Bangladesh Police in the aftermath of the Liberation War, Bangladesh retains a colonial system of policing little changed since the British Raj. Instead of drafting new legislation after independence in 1947 or splitting from Pakistan in 1971, the government kept laws such as the Police Act of 1861; the Evidence Act of 1872; the Criminal Procedure Code of Police of 1898; and Police Regulation of Bengal of 1943. These laws, which were devised primarily to deter anticolonial revolts, still govern policing. Since independence, there have been no radical changes to the laws, organization of the police, or the mechanisms through which they are governed. As a consequence, the police have become a dangerous anachronism unsuited to a modern democracy.
The Police Act of 1861 is the primary piece of legislation governing the police; it outlines the constitution of the police force, its superintendence, appointments, dismissals, and other conditions of service. Written by the British colonial authorities, the act makes the police accountable to government agents rather than the local population. The main function of police under the law now – and in 1861 – is to control, rather than protect, citizens. Although the Police Act is still the primary law of the land, measures have been taken to resolve the problems created by dual controls. Between 1976 and 2009 six laws came into force regulating the police administration in Bangladesh’s six metropolitan areas of Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet, and Barisal. These laws, known as the Metropolitan Police Acts, stripped executive magistrates of their authority over the police and vested regulatory and licensing powers with the IGP and metropolitan police commissioners. Other legislation governing police functioning also enables police abuse. Abuse in police custody – including torture and death in police custody – is widespread and systemic and occurs regardless of who is in power.
Bangladesh Police has a well-deserved reputation for brutality, corruption, and incompetence. While all governments since independence have acknowledged these fundamental flaws, none of them has seen a competent and accountable police force as being in its interest. Whether the necessity has been fighting crime or tackling terrorists, successive administrations have relied on half measures and quick fixes usually involving the military rather than reforming the police as a long-term solution. More often than not, such short-sighted solutions have been supported by – if not undertaken at the insistence of – Bangladesh’s international donors. Not only have these measures diverted attention from police reform, but they have also encouraged crime and a culture of impunity, which the military has used as excuses expanding its influence over civilian affairs.
After decades of misuse and neglect, Bangladesh’s police are a source of instability and fear rather than a key component of a democratic society. Human rights abuses are endemic and almost all Bangladeshis who interact with the police complain of corruption. With an elected government in place again, there are now opportunities to reform this dysfunctional force. But there are also significant obstacles. If the government fails to move beyond the current modest reform process, the democratic transition could falter should deteriorating security give the military another chance to intervene, using, as it has in the past, the pretext of upholding law and order to justify derailing democracy. Deep structural reforms – including a new police law – and major additional resources are necessary to create an effective and accountable service.
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