Police Will Be Able to Act as Complainant Without a Victim's Report: New Law Coming to Stop Extortion, Says IGP
A new law is being drafted in the fastest possible time to permanently stop the menace of extortion in the country, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Md Ali Hossain Fakir has said. Once the proposed law is passed, police will be able to take direct legal action against extortionists by acting as the complainant themselves, based solely on digital evidence and without any complaint from the victim.
The IGP revealed the information at a special meeting with senior officials at Khulna Police Lines on Saturday. The announcement is being seen as one of the most significant recent messages from police headquarters regarding the country's law and order situation and crime control.
Explaining the need for the new law, the IGP said those involved in extortion maintain political or other forms of dominance in society and use that influence. Out of fear of their intimidation and power, ordinary people do not dare to file complaints at police stations or testify in court.
It is against this reality that the initiative for a new law has been taken to bring offenders to justice, he said. Once the law takes effect, police will be able to act on their own initiative, and whenever specific digital evidence of an incident is found, the accused can be brought under the law.
In other words, under the new system, the start of a case or of legal action will no longer depend on a victim's courage. As soon as digital evidence is in hand, police themselves will be able to step forward as the complainant.
Highlighting the limitations and challenges police face in carrying out their duties, the IGP said that in many cases, if police use force while enforcing the law they are called 'fascist police', and if they do not use force they are called 'weak police'. Neither label is desirable for the force, he noted.
He said work is under way to build a professional and effective police force with everyone's coordination, one that will play a role in establishing justice and building a corruption-free society.
Criticising the system of governance of the past decade and a half, the police chief claimed that over the past 17 years drugs had been made into something of a normal matter in the country. The current administration, however, has taken an uncompromising stance on crime control.
A 'zero tolerance' policy has been adopted against juvenile gangs, extortion and drugs, the IGP said. The announcement of the new anti-extortion law has come as a step in continuation of that policy.
He also spoke of the decision to make community policing activities meaningful at the field level. In the past, he said, the system remained limited to paper as a mere 'book practice'. This time, through a coordinated initiative of the home and health ministries, it is being shaped as an associate branch of the police within the legal framework, so that the scope of citizen services becomes more dynamic.
Khulna Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mohammad Zahidul Hasan and Khulna Range DIG Md Rezaul Karim, along with top district and metropolitan police officials, were present at the views-exchange meeting.
All eyes are now on the draft of the proposed law and the process of passing it. Once the law takes effect, the very nature of the fight against extortion will change — offenders could be brought to justice even when a victim does not come forward.
