Gross dereliction of duty by police
A report in a leading Bangla daily on February 18 is a shocking example of both illegal and inhuman acts of the police. Reportedly, Raj, a nine-year-old school boy, was hit from behind by a jeep in the city's Doyaganj area. But the police on the spot allowed the vehicle to go. As it turned out,it was being used by a police officer.
Apart from the illegality of the police action, it was a callous disregard for the injured. They could have at least helped the boy get to the nearest hospital. Is it not the police's duty to help people in distress, whatever the cause may be? Had Raj been taken to the nearest hospital by the police, he could have been saved. The two private hospitals that the unfortunate parents went to, refused to admit him, and by the time he got to Dhaka Medical College Hospital it was too late. We would also like to know why the police refused to register the case at the time of the accident, which made it impossible for Raj's parents to admit him to the hospitals they went to.
And it is one thing for parents to lose a child in an accident and quite another for a relative of the deceased lament that there was no point in lodging a case because the perpetrator is high and mighty and it would be pointless to press charges. Are we then living in a land of fear where the law is not applicable for people who are there to uphold the law? This was negligence on every count and someone must answer for the death of Raj.
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