Resolve ‘fictitious’ case-filing against party men, BNP urges IGP

The BNP has urged Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun to resolve the issue of filing "fictitious" cases against its leaders and activists by police and ruling party men.

A delegation of the BNP, led by the party's Vice-Chairman Barkat Ullah Bulu, met the IGP at the Police Headquarters on Thursday afternoon with a letter signed by the party's Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

The meeting took place at a time when Bangladesh Police on Thursday began a 15-day special operation across the country to detain terrorists, criminals, drug dealers, illegal arms holders, and suspects facing arrest warrants.

In the meeting, the BNP questioned the ongoing police drive, saying it was intended to crack down on the party's leaders and activists ahead of its 10 December rally in Dhaka.

"Recently, the number of false cases filed against political leaders and activists has reached an extreme height. Besides enforced disappearances and murder, such fictitious cases and political repression also falls under the purvey of crimes against humanity under the International Crime (tribunals) Act 1973," said BNP's letter.

"Already Human Rights Watch, US State Department and some other national and international human rights organisations published reports on police brutality, political oppression and extra-judicial killings," the letter said. 

"The United Nations Human Rights Commission has also shown interest in investigating such human rights violation allegations by police, urging to stop these violations immediately," the BNP letter informed the IGP.

The letter mentioned that 169 "false" cases were registered from August to 26 November and about 6,723 people were named in those cases, apart from 15,050 unidentified ones.

The party has also informed the country's highest-ranking police officer that more than one lakh cases had been filed before and after the 2018 national election, accusing around 40 lakh BNP men. 

The BNP delegation talked to the IGP for more than an hour about various issues including the venue of a mass rally on which the government and the BNP are at odds with each other. 

During Thursday's meeting, IGP Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun requested BNP leaders to hold their 10 December rally at Suhrawardy Udyan, an offer BNP has already rejected insisting on holding the rally in front of its Nayapaltan central office.

The loggerheads over the venue issue already raised political tension and BNP leaders claimed that the police's special drive across the country is nothing but a retaliatory move on behalf of the government.

BNP's Publicity Secretary Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anee told The Business Standard (TBS), "At the meeting, we submitted relevant documents and evidence showing how police and ruling party men filed fictitious cases and framed the BNP men across the country."

"We also asked the IGP why police are conducting special drives from the very first day of December. Are the police targeting us? If not then they could have launched the drive just after the BNP's mass rally on 10 December," the leader further said.

The letter further highlighted recent reports published across various media outlets regarding cases in which BNP members were falsely accused. The plaintiffs in some of the cases did not even clarify the number of accused, nor did they witness the very incidents they were filing the cases for.

"The plaintiffs in these cases are either the police or Awami League leaders making similar but fictitious allegations," the letter mentioned.

"As public servants, it is expected that police will perform their responsibilities cordially. But for the past few years, we have been observing with grave concern that some police officials fell for political mischief," BNP said in the letter.

"Not only have they undermined democracy, rule of law, fundamental rights and citizens' rights but also their activities were portrayed as punishable offences under any national or international laws," the letter reads.      

In response, the IGP assured the BNP leaders that he will look into the allegations and take action if there is any misconduct by his fellow policemen. 

Police drive ahead of BNP's Dhaka rally 

According to a newspaper report, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police prepared a list with detailed information about BNP leaders and activists in each ward of the capital.

The instructions from the police headquarters about launching the special drive came ahead of BNP's mass rally, triggering concern among BNP leaders as the 10 December rally in Dhaka would be the 10th and the last divisional rally of the party.

Dhaka Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Syed Nurul Islam told TBS that police started the drive immediately after receiving the instruction so that none could take any "opportunity" under the pretext of BNP's rally.

According to the police headquarters' instructions, the special operation would be launched for the safe and smooth celebrations of Victory Day on 16 December, Christmas on 25 December, and Thirty First night.

When contacted, Monjur Rahman, assistant inspector general (Media) of the police headquarters, said the directives were issued so that no untoward incident takes place ahead of Martyred Intellectuals Day and Victory Day.

"There is no specific threat… This is part of our routine operation," he added.