Police in November of last year, arrested Munshi Ajmer Hossain, a sacked constable of Bolirhat police outpost of Chattogram Metropolitan Police with 14,000 yaba tablets from in front of Daudkandi Toll Plaza in Cumilla.
The accused policeman is currently in jail. Earlier, he was also accused of drug trafficking.
In December 2020, police seized 25 bottles of drugs from Ishwardi Railway Police Constable Naeem Hossain. He had been fired earlier for various offenses. Even then his criminal activities did not stop.
Similar to these two incidents, several dismissed policemen were arrested in different parts of the country including the capital Dhaka for various crimes. As a result, police headquarters has recently sent cautionaries to various police units to be more vigilant about them.
Police headquarters also directed all concerned units to bring 106 policemen who were sacked for drug use in the last one year under surveillance. They lost their jobs after dropping out of dope tests. Several complaints were lodged against some of them at the police headquarters. The list of the names of the police members were sent to the district superintendents of police and the concerned police stations.
Talking to Bangladesh Post, Deputy Inspector General of Police Haider Ali Khan said, any allegation against any member or officer of the police is immediately investigated. After the investigation, disciplinary action including dismissal is taken if anyone is found guilty.
Brahmanbaria Superintendent of Police Mohammad Anisur Rahman said that 25 members of the district police were sacked for their involvement in various criminal and illegal activities in the last one year. Among them are constables, sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors. We are monitoring where they go, what they do.
According to a DIG at the police headquarters, a letter had been sent to all police units from the police headquarters recently stating allegations against police personnel who were sacked in accordance with the police law. After receiving the complaint from someone inside or outside police, after the preliminary investigation, a departmental case is filed against the accused police member. After passing various procedures and stages, punishment order or final decision of the case is made.
However, in some cases, the investigation officer has not submitted the investigation report through the appropriate authority, which is creating complications in the management of departmental cases. For this reason, after the investigation of the departmental case, instructions were given to submit the findings through the appropriate authority.
He further said that besides the sacked police officers, the members working in the police station or unit are also committing various crimes.
A few days ago, 6 constables of Chattogram Metropolitan Police were arrested for extortion in Chattogram. They tried to loot 1 lakh 60 thousand five hundred taka from one person. Two of them had earlier been fired for money laundering. Later, they got back the job by lobbying through an influential leader.
The officer further said that allegations of bribery, harassment, non-maintenance of wife after marriage and torture for dowry, failure to take necessary steps after filing a case, land acquisition and threats are increasing against the police. Complaints are coming more and more after former Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Haque launched 'IGP Complaints Cell' on November 13 in 2016.
According to police sources, according to the police law, there are two types of departmental punishment (minor and gross) against a police member if he or she is involved in criminal activities. Under the police law, dismissal, demotion, suspension of promotion, suspension of salary increment and in-service benefits are revoked. Also dismissed if found guilty.
There is an opportunity to appeal against the sentence. Withdrawal from responsibility for minor irregularities or offenses, attachment to the police lines or range from the operational unit is also taken as punishment. Action was also taken against the police officers of BCS cadre in accordance with the Public Service Act-2018 (Discipline and Appeal). There is a cell in the Public Administration Department of the Home Ministry to look into allegations against officers above the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) rank.
Sources further said that 8 out of 106 people who were fired for being positive in the dope test have appealed. The dismissed were working as constables from Sub-Inspector (SI) and Sergeant. These members of the police have been kept under surveillance for fear of being involved in crime. The police superintendent of the concerned district and the OC of the police station have been instructed to inquire about their permanent address.
It may be mentioned that the dope test was started in Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in the middle of 2020. After 30 members were identified in the first case, 10 members were dismissed after investigation. In the last four years, disciplinary action has been taken against about 75,000 police personnel across the country on various charges. On an average, action is being taken against 1100 police personnel per month.
DMP Commissioner Moha. Shafiqul Islam told Bangladesh Post that the policemen who have lost their jobs due to drug use, know a lot about policing. This measure has been taken so that their experience cannot be used in criminal activities. However, care is being taken so that they are not socially degraded.
