Charge sheet against a child!

We are dumbfounded by the Mirpur police bringing a case to the court where an 11-month old baby Rubel, and Arifur Rahman who had been dead for 3 years at the time of occurrence, have been charge-sheeted for vandalism! The irony here is that the police came to the conclusion after having conducted a probe that took eight months to conclude. This whole incident would not have come to the attention of the court had Rubel's father not produced the child; and now we are left to ask some serious questions about how the police investigate cases in our country.

It is a matter of satisfaction that the court has taken cognisance of the extraordinary circumstances of the case and ordered the Investigating Officer (IO) to explain his actions. However, we would like to know what the police administration of that particular station has to say about a case being drawn up against an infant and a dead person. Any investigation is supposed to follow set procedures and this case is an example of the perfunctory manner in which many cases are probed. The mother of the infant has demanded exemplary punishment for the IO involved and we have to agree with her feelings.

Of equal importance is the fact that the police failed to verify that the other accused had died of stroke three years earlier. The IO must be made to answer for his callous behaviour. This case should be a wakeup call for the relevant authorities to re-examine the way police cases are investigated. All those responsible for such farcical systemic distortion, wilful or otherwise, should be held to account.