July uprising cases: No cops to be arrested without specific evidence

Police members sued for murder, attempted murder, and kidnapping during the quota reform protests in July-August will only be arrested if there is specific evidence against them.
Different police units are collecting video footage and working to identify the force members who used lethal weapons against unarmed civilians.
The move came after the Police Headquarters (PHQ) on September 10 sent copies of a letter to all police units, asking them to drop the names of any government official or individual from cases if their involvement in offences is not found during primary investigations, a high official of the PHQ confirmed The Daily Star.
The letter was addressed to the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) chief.
“We are collecting footage of police members using lethal weapons or shooting at people. We are also recording the statements of officers who were responsible for ensuring law and order,” the official said, requesting anonymity.
The official said they want to identify those who used lethal weapons and ordered cops to use those.
“Plainclothes men, particularly those from the Awami League, were also seen using firearms. We are trying to identify them and ascertain how they got the firearms.”
Sources in police said at least 278 cases have been filed with different police stations accusing 94 cops after the fall of the AL government on August 5.
More than 50 cases have been lodged with Ashulia and Savar police stations over the violence in July-August. Police members are among the accused in those cases.
Nine police officials, including two former inspectors general of police and a former Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner, have so far been arrested in different cases.
On September 20, Mashiur Rahman, an additional deputy inspector general (DIG) of police and also a former deputy commissioner of the Lalbagh Division (DB) of DMP, was arrested in a murder case filed with New Market Police Station.
A large number of cops went into hiding after the filing of cases and arrests of police officials. Some of them even left the country, said sources in the force.
Many officials are now hesitant about carrying out their duties for fear of being accused in fresh cases and facing departmental action after the change of government, the sources added.
At least 187 cops have been absent from work till date since the fall of the Hasina-led government, officials in PHQ said.
Mostofa Kamal, deputy inspector general of the PBI, said it is the duty of the investigators to drop the names of innocent people from cases and not to harass them.
“We remind the investigators about this policy from time to time. In the charge sheets, the investigators will not name those suspects found not to be involved in crimes,” he told The Daily Star yesterday.
Regarding the PHQ directives, Julfiqar Ali Hayder, commissioner of the Khulna Metropolitan Police, said they were trying to collect footage and specific evidence before arresting any suspect.
Ahsan Habib Palash, DIG of Chattogram Range Police, echoed the views of Julfiqar.
Despite repeated attempts by the interim government to fully activate the police force, it is still carrying out duties on a limited scale, said sources in the force.
Before and immediately after the ouster of Hasina, police faced unprecedented public fury as mobs set fire to their vehicles and police stations in reprisal for the law enforcers’ use of excessive force on demonstrators.
According to government statistics, at least 44 cops and 708 people were killed during the quota reform protests in July-August.
Many police officials, especially junior cops, now refuse to use force against demonstrators for fear of attacks or being accused in cases, according to sources.
On September 22, junior police officials were seen refusing to follow orders of their superiors to clear a road block by some protesters in the capital’s Kakrail.
Many junior cops said they should not be pit against the people.
‘COPS ACCUSED INTENTIONALLY’
There are allegations that police officials have been named intentionally in some complaints with Dhaka courts. But some of those names were dropped when the first information reports (FIRs) were filed with police stations.
This newspaper has obtained at least four such FIRs.
On August 23, one Sultan Mahmud filed a complaint with a Dhaka court over the killing of his brother Sujan Mahmud and accused 18 people, including Hasina, former IGP Abdullah Al Mamun, ex-DMP DB chief Harun Or Rashid, former DB joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker, and former DMP commissioner Habibur Rahman. But the four cops were not named in the FIR.
Contacted, Sultan said he dropped the names of the cops upon advice from his lawyer. He, however, could not say why his lawyer gave such advice.