Whose only skill was crushing the opposition

Bangla Press Desk:  Former chief of the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Harun Or Rashid – commonly known as DB Harun – rose through the ranks by brutally suppressing political opposition, enjoying impunity and state patronage along the way.

Dubbed the “baton man” of the fascist Awami League, Harun built his career not through adherence to law or policing acumen, but through the relentless persecution of opponents.

From the outset of his service, he displayed a disregard for rules and accountability. Wherever he was posted, allegations of irregularities, corruption and abuse of power followed. Instead of being penalised, he was repeatedly rewarded with promotions and powerful postings.

Harun came into national focus on 6 July 2011, when, as then Deputy Commissioner (Tejgaon Zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, he beat up the then Opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farroque in front of the National Parliament building. The incident drew outrage across the country but earned Harun the confidence of then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

On 24 August 2014, he was appointed Superintendent of Police (SP) in Gazipur. Barely four months later, on 26 December 2014, he imposed Section 144 and launched a crackdown on BNP activists, foiling a planned rally of BNP Chairperson

Begum Khaleda Zia in Gazipur. That incident again made headlines, as did the flood of complaints that piled up against him during his four-year tenure as SP of Gazipur.

Following the Election Commission’s directives, Harun was withdrawn from Gazipur on 21 April 2016. However, just 11 days later, after the election ended, the Ministry of Home Affairs reinstated him to his post on 3 May. On 4 December 2018, Harun began his Narayanganj chapter as SP.

Around the 11th National Election on 30 December 2018, Harun established a reign of terror in Narayanganj – relentlessly persecuting BNP leaders and activists through abduction, torture and extortion. He became the district’s unquestioned power broker. His feud with local member of parliament Shamim Osman and other controversial actions drew further attention. Several industrialists were reportedly detained and threatened with arrest in fabricated cases unless they paid him large sums of money.

On 10 November 2019, Harun was removed from Narayanganj and attached to the Police Headquarters (Training Reserve). Yet, under the patronage of then President Md Abdul Hamid, he was soon promoted and appointed Deputy Commissioner (DC) of DMP’s Tejgaon Division on 9 June 2020. Less than a year later, on 2 May 2021, he was promoted to Additional DIG and then made Joint Commissioner of DMP on 11 May. On 12 June 2022, Harun was appointed Chief of the Detective Branch (DB) of DMP.

As DB chief, Harun staged multiple “operations” targeting BNP’s Nayapaltan office, leading crackdowns and mass arrests of party leaders and activists. Many Hefazat-e-Islam leaders were also tortured under his watch. He turned the DB office into what many mockingly called a “rice hotel” – inviting detainees for lunch and posting those photos on social media. Most recently, Harun sparked national and international criticism after detaining six coordinators of the quota reform movement, forcing them to record video statements while claiming it was for “protective custody.” Following the backlash, on 31 July 2024, he was removed from DB and reassigned as Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operations) of DMP.

During his tenure in Gazipur, Harun faced countless allegations. Even local Awami League leaders and public representatives felt powerless before his authority. Many within the ruling party itself fell victim to his extortion schemes.

Harun’s brutality was not limited to suppressing opposition parties – he targeted dissent of any kind. On 4 November 2017, at around 1pm, members of the Detective Branch dragged away Md Sohrab Hossain, the physically disabled editor and publisher of the newspaper Muktasangbad, from his office on the second floor of the Gazipur Municipal Super Market. When he asked why he was being taken, DB officers told him it was on the orders of SP Harun.

Sohrab recounted, “They first took me to the Gazipur DB office, where I saw Sub-Registrar Monirul Islam sitting. A few days earlier, my newspaper had published a fact-based report exposing his corruption. When I asked what the allegation against me was, DB Inspector Amir Hossain said I had demanded extortion money from the Sub-Registry Office. But I had never even been there. CCTV footage from the eight cameras in that office could prove it. They did not listen. Instead, they drove me around different places, took me to court and tried to keep me in a lock-up. Later, they filed a false extortion case, and I spent 17 days in jail. On the same day I was released, they picked me up again from the jail gate and forced me to sign a bond before SP Harun.”

Harun’s repression extended beyond physical torture to psychological torment. Opposition leaders were blackmailed inside the DB office. BNP leader Goyeshwar Chandra Roy was taken there, fed lunch by Harun and the photos were circulated online – a deliberate act of humiliation and character assassination.

But perhaps Harun’s most reprehensible acts took place during the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. He allegedly detained movement leaders illegally at the DB office, forced them to sign undertakings and orchestrated schemes to undermine the protests. Photos of students being served rice at the DB office were shared on social media in an attempt to demean them.

Through political persecution, defamation of opponents and blatant violations of law, Harun embodied the dangerous fusion of police power and political partisanship – a symbol of how state machinery can morph into mafia rule.

BP/SP