Depoliticise police

They also called for depoliticising the police force to make them efficient and play a greater role in maintaining law and order.

Odhikar, a human rights organisation, arranged the discussion on 'Human Rights and police custody: A perspective of Dhaka Metropolitan Police' at the Cirdap auditorium.

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Speaking as chief guest, Law Minister Moudud Ahmed said police are now performing better although they have earned a bad reputation.

"It is possible to get better service from the police if we can provide them with better facilities," he added.

He also suggested motivating and educating the police.

Jesmul Hasan and Sazzad Hossain of Odhikar presented a keynote paper at the discussion.

In the paper, they said the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) now use sections 86 and 100 of the DMP ordinance more frequently following the High Court directive regarding section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

During the period September 2003 to May 2004 a total number of

Out of 69,715 people arrested by DMP from September 2003 to May 2004, over 45,000 were held under sections 86 and 100 and over 4,000 were arrested under section 54 of the CrPC.

The keynote paper also quoted the Police Regulatory of Bangladesh (PRB) which says, "No police force can work successfully unless it wins the respect and good will of the public and secures its co-operation."

A list of instructions by Inspector General of Police (IGP) has been sent to every police station in the capital mentioning what to do and how to behave with people, but those are not followed by the police, according to the keynote paper.

Chaired by Dr Tasneem Siddiqui, the discussion was also addressed by former advisor of caretaker government Major General (retd) Moinul Hossain Chowdhury and Vice-chairman of Bangladesh Bar Council Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud.