A poignant pointer to waning public faith in law enforcers
Courtesy New Age 4/5/11
THE violence and vandalism at Birganj and Kaharol upazilas in Dinajpur on Tuesday after several thousand villagers besieged two police stations and set one of them on fire along with a vehicle in protest against an overnight robbery, in which they suspected involvement of several policemen, tend to underline an increasing loss of public faith in the law enforcement system of the state. According to a report published in New Age on Wednesday, four policemen were beaten up by the angry villages and at least 25 people were wounded when the law enforcers fired rubber bullets to disperse the marauding crowd. The villagers also kept 15 policemen confined to the house where the robbery had taken place and let them leave only after assurance from the authorities that action would be taken against any law enforcers if they were found to have been complicit in the crime.
Indeed, the violence and vandalism perpetrated by the villagers are deplorable and even unforgivable; after all, no one has the right to take his or her anger out on public property and, in the process, disrupt law and order, and endanger public safety and security. However, their reaction is quite understandable; as summed up by a local businessman quoted in the New Age report, it was `an outburst… against continuous harassment of people by the police and frequent robberies in the area.' Such frustration may not be exclusive to the residents of Birganj and Kaharol upazilas alone; people across the country are also suffering in the face of a sustained surge in crime and angry at the overall failure of the law enforcers ensure their safety and security — be it at home or out on the street.
While disquieting, and alarming even, the allegation of involvement and complicity in crime against law enforcers is not unprecedented, either. Not to speak of extrajudicial murders and custodial killings perpetrated routinely by the law enforcement agencies, especially the Rapid Action Battalion, involvement of law enforcers in extortion, abduction, etc has been alleged at different times at different places. The despair and desperation of the people at large over the apparent ineptitude and alleged complicity of members of the law enforcement agencies vis-à-vis crime may be fast reaching a tipping point, as evidenced in the Dinajpur incident and also a recent rise in lynching across the country.
Members of the police and other law enforcement agencies are supposed to be protectors of the people, and it is imperative that there should mutual respect and trust between them. Regrettably, however, the public faith in the law enforcers' ability to combat crime and criminals seems to have hit the rock bottom. The allegation of complicity in crime against some law enforcers and the subsequent attack on two police stations in Dinajpur tends to suggest that increasing suspicion has been added to the eroding faith of the people in the law enforcement system.
The authorities need to realise that it is a veritable recipe for disaster, and thus work in earnest towards restoration of the public faith in the law enforcers. To this end, all allegations of complicity in crime against law enforcers need to be probed and the perpetrators prosecuted and punished. Meanwhile, the law enforcers need to come up with tangible success in the fight against crime and criminals.
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