Practice for police, termed ‘offence’ by IGP

Bangla Press Desk:   Police stations across the country, particularly in Dhaka, receive written complaints and carry out inquiries without properly keeping records of them, said multiple policemen to the Daily Sun.

A sub-inspector (SI) or an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) gets assigned to investigate such complaints, and the assigning officer tries to mitigate such complaints in consultation with the complainants and accused, said an SI at Hazaribagh police station, seeking anonymity.

Such complaints only get recorded if police fail to settle the issues, he further said, adding that they then produce the recorded complaint to the court for further instructions.

In one such incident, Bimol Halder, 50, of Keraniganj, went to Keraniganj model police station about 20 days ago and filed a complaint mentioning that two of his neighbours, Ramjoy Halder and Gourango Mandal, prevented him from farming fish in his 106-decimal pond in Shakta union.

The duty officer asked Bimol to write a complaint from outside and submit it. Following that, Bimol prepared two signed copies and handed them to the officer. The officer did not sign the documents or assign them a complaint number, providing only the contact number of the police station’s SI Anwar Hossain.

Contacted, SI Anwar admitted that the written complaint was not recorded in the police station’s daily log. He said, “We are primarily investigating the complaint. We will take necessary actions after this.”

With another such complaint, on 4 August, Bobi Khathun, of Bogura’s Adamdighi, went to Adamdighi police station and accused one Mohammad Sajal and one Jakiya Sultana of assault.

Talking to the Daily Sun, a family member of Bobi said the complaint was never recorded at the police station and that they found no update from the police on the issue. “Some village matabbars had to settle it.” 

Earlier, in October 2022, a theft occurred at the home of Shamsul Haque Howlader in Shariatpur’s Zajira.

On 30 October, Shamsul’s wife, Asma Akhter, filed a complaint with Zajira police station. The OC, however, asked her to prepare a written complaint from a computer shop. Following the instructions, she typed the complaint and submitted it. 

The OC then wrote on the copy, “Take necessary steps, SI Borhan Dorji”. He, however, did not record the complaint in the police station’s log. The complaint copy had no signature, seal, or reference number.

The SI visited the house once, but no further action was taken in this connection, Asma Akhter. 

Asked during a recent press briefing, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Baharul Alam said that no law permitted this practice. “It is an offence. We have already filed departmental cases against the OCs of many police stations for this,” he said.

According to the Police Regulations Bengal (PRB)-1943 and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)-1898, the police stations can take general diary (DGs) and cases. The GD is for non-cognizable offences and the case or first information report (FIR) for cognizable offences.

The PRB’s Section 377 states, “The general diary as prescribed under section 44, Police Act, 1861, and sections 154 and 155, Code of Criminal Procedure, shall be kept in BP Form No 65 at all police stations. The officer in charge is responsible for ensuring that it is punctually and correctly written. He shall himself make all but the routine entries. The diary shall be written in duplicate with carbon paper. Each book shall contain 200 pages, duly numbered.”

The PRB’s Section 243 says, “The first information of cognizable crime mentioned in section 154, Code of Criminal Procedure, shall be drawn up by the Officer-in-charge of the police-station in BP Form No 27 in accordance with the instructions printed with it.”

BP/TD