Accused of Narayanganj murders charged
ALMOST a year after the gruesome murders of seven men in Narayanganj, police have charged 35 individuals. This includes the prime accused Nur Hossain and three sacked Rab officials. According to our reports 25 of those against whom charge sheets have been submitted, are members of Rab.
It is rare in our system to see serving, high level law enforcers being held responsible for their crimes. However, the family of Nazrul Islam, the main target of the crime, as well as the prosecuting lawyer, have expressed frustration that five of the six accused named in the case filed by Nazrul's widow, are not included in the charge sheet. One of them is a ruling party leader. While we take heart in the fact that this time due process of law has been followed to bring corrupt law enforcers to book we express our concern at this omission. This issue must be explained to the public for the process to be fully satisfactory.
Here we must commend the strong, decisive role of the High Court in ordering the arrests of the three main Rab officials who executed the diabolical plan. If it hadn't been for the High Court's determination to expedite the investigation process there was a possibility of murder cases being swept under the carpet.
This case begs the question as to what internal control mechanism exists at present to monitor actions by those who carry out law enforcement activities. How is delinquency within the system discovered and addressed?
It appears that only when the media or, as in this instance, the higher judiciary, gets involved, are the law enforcers held accountable.
Every country, where law enforcement has achieved a high degree of credibility, has strict and transparent internal monitoring and a follow up system. It is high time we have such a system in place.
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