249 brokers jailed for harassing service seekers at govt offices

The mobile courts assisted by the Rapid Action Battalion on Sunday jailed 249 people for different terms for harassing and deceiving service seekers at various government offices in different districts.

RAB detained 500 brokers for allegedly harassing people during 68 coordinated drives in hospitals, passport offices, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) offices across the country and 249 of them were jailed.

The mobile courts also fined 248 detainees Tk9 lakh, RAB officials said.

RAB's legal and media wing director Khandaker Al-Moin said they have been receiving complaints that service seekers are getting harassed in different government departments including hospitals, land registry, BRTA, passport offices.

"We have decided to conduct countrywide coordinated raids to check the harassment and deceptions," the RAB officer said.

Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Mitford Hospital, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, Chattogram Medical College Hospital, Rangpur Medical College Hospital, were among major institutions where Rab officials conducted drives.

A mobile court assisted by RAB-3 on Sunday jailed 30 brokers for different terms with a maximum one month in prison for deceiving patients at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and taking them to private hospitals with a promise of better treatment at a minimum cost.

The RAB-3 with an executive magistrate conducted the drive at the hospital for hours and detained 45 people from there and 30 of them were sentenced.

The brokers were allegedly cheating patients and their relatives coming to the hospital from across the country for treatment, said Palash Kumar Bosu, an executive magistrate, who led the raid

The brokers used to allure patients coming to the DMCH with a promise to provide them better treatment at a lower cost and then take them to substandard and unauthorised hospitals, Palash added.

He further said RAB will conduct drives against substandard hospitals.