Arrest but go by the law

The National Human Rights Commission chairman yesterday asked the law enforcement agencies to follow the due course of law in detaining anyone or keeping them in custody.

The police should produce an arrestee before a court within 24 hours of detention, said Prof Mizanur Rahman.

"At least do this much with honesty," the NHRC boss said in presence of a top police official at a seminar in the capital.

"You [police] would produce someone [before the court] after four/five days of his arrest and show on documents that he was picked up within 24 hours. Please don't make such a mockery of the people ... Can't we expect even this much from you?"

Describing the violence during the BNP-led alliance's blockade and hartal programmes as "heinous criminal offences", he said it must be stopped.

It is the duty of the state to ensure security of its citizens, Prof Mizanur said. "And we are urging the government to act as tough as needed to do that."

"But what do we eventually see? There are many examples that show an alarming rise in tyrannical behaviours of the law enforcement agencies. As a result, the protectors turn predators in many cases. This is very unfortunate. We don't want see the state playing this role."

Rights activist Sultana Kamal said the ongoing violence was affecting not only the victims and their families but the state as well, and it was impossible to predict how long the country might need to recover from the losses.

The tendency among people to take the law into their own hands increased during the violence and people are losing their confidence in the rule of law and the judiciary, she said, adding that in many cases, law enforcers resorted to extrajudicial ways to prevent violence.

Moklesur Rahman, additional inspector general of police (administration and operations), tried to justify his force's actions by saying that they always follow the relevant laws in discharging their duties.

When police work to prevent violence, they are accused of working for the government, and if they stop working, they are labelled as working on criminals' side, he said.

Criminology and Police Science department of Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University of Tangail organised the seminar titled "Recent Political Violence in Bangladesh and Impact on the Arson Victims" at the Jatiya Press Club.

Associate Prof Azizur Rahman, who presented one of the two keynote papers, of the department said crimes by the government and by the opposition rise simultaneously in violent situations.

"In our country, when crimes like petrol bomb attacks and vandalisms increased, the incidents of crossfire or shootout also rose," he said.