A new law to stop extortion is being drafted and will come soon, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Md Ali Hossain Fakir has said. Many people dare not file complaints at police stations or testify in court out of fear of powerful extortionists, he said. Once the new law takes effect, police will be able to file cases against extortionists themselves, as plaintiffs, without a complaint from the victim.
He spoke to journalists on Saturday (24 October) afternoon after a community policing gathering for Khulna division at the Khulna Metropolitan Police (KMP) police lines in Boyra, Khulna.
The IGP said victims of extortion often do not want to speak out for fear of influential people, and are even afraid to testify. This makes legal action against the offenders difficult. The new law is being drafted to solve this problem. If it is passed, police will be able to file cases against extortionists on their own initiative.
On the country’s law and order, he said police are called fascist when they use force to keep order, and seen as weak when they do not. Over the past 17 years a distance has grown between the police and the public, and drugs have spread through society in the same period. Police are working to overcome these problems, he said.
Describing steps to make community policing more effective, the IGP said a legal framework is being prepared with the approval of the home and finance ministries. The plan is to run community policing as a separate branch of the police.
He added that joint operations against teenage gangs, extortion and drugs are continuing across the country, and that police are working to ensure ordinary people’s safety as well as to curb crime.
Stressing the need to rely less on victims’ complaints to act against extortion, the IGP said that once the new law is in place, police will be able to take legal action against extortionists on their own initiative even without a complaint.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report