Please - Odhikar

Signs of Improvement of Police Behaviour in the Thanas
Since 2003, Odhikar thana monitoring reports have shown that police are generally rude and
abrupt towards the persons they have arrested. Furthermore, hints of freedom in exchange for
money are made both openly and aside to family members of the arrested persons.
In 2004, an Order was made that a Code of Conduct to be followed by police be hung up in
every Thana and followed by the police. This Code gives the Thana police guidelines on proper
behaviour towards complainants, visitors, victims and arrested persons - men, women and
children. In some Thanas it was observed that the police were well mannered towards visitors
and complainants and victims, even though they asked the visitors to pay money before they
could see their near and dear ones. However, this polite behaviour depended from police officer
to police officer.
One police officer ventured to mention that budget constraints, poor pay meant that the police
were unable to work properly. In many cases, they had to buy their own furniture, stationary and
other necessary material from their own pockets. Furthermore, they received no conveyance
when going out to investigations or going to court to give their statements. On top of all this,
they had to work a minimum of 16 hours a day. This police officer said that under such daily
pressures, good performance could not be expected and all this paved the way for corruption.
In 2004, the government took the initiative to separate enforcement and investigation activities
in the police stations. This had been introduced in 10 police stations around the country.
In 2005, Thana monitoring by Odhikar revealed that police behavior towards the common
people was gradually changing for the better in a few cases. Furthermore, recently some police
stations have even made a separate custody cell for children and juvenile offenders. In every
police station monitored, there was a Code of Conduct hanging in the duty officer’s room.
However, it was not fully practiced or followed. Many police personnel did not even go through
the Code of Conduct. According to the instruction, people who come to the thana should be
offered to take a seat first. Unfortunately, in many police stations such as Mirpur, Motijheel,
Tejgaon and Mohammadpur, there were no sitting arrangements for the people who come to the
police station for complaining or lodging a FIR or GD!
Other Significant Observations
When Odhikar carried out its Thana Monitoring programme, one of the things its fact finders
did, was check the arrest records to find out what laws are being used to arrest people. Most
common are section 54 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which allows the police to arrest persons
on several grounds- one of them being ’reasonable suspicion’; Sections 86 and 100 of the Dhaka
Metropolitan Police Ordinance, which are similar to Section 54, relevant sections of the Special
Powers Act - considered by human rights activists to be a ’bad law’, sections 72 and 76 of the
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance and Section 34 of the Police Act. These are discussed in
detail in chapter 3 of this report.
Report 2005
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