A POLICE team coming to have threatened to shoot an opposition leader once again shows the partisan role and high-handed character of the law enforcement agencies. A law enforcers’ team, mostly in plain clothes, is alleged to have raided the house of the secretary of the Panchagarh unit Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal, the youth wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the largest in the opposition camp. The wife of the Juba Dal leader alleged that the police had visited their house on December 23 and December 27 and threatened to shoot her husband. The leader’s wife also filed a complaint with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party high-up on December 27, seeking help in this regard as the family says that it has confidence neither in the police nor in the judiciary. The law enforcement agency has denied any such incident and said that the allegation is fabricated. The allegation, however, brings forth a number of issues that warrant attention. It brings forth the issue of the partisan role of the law enforcement agencies which has recently made the headlines time and again, especially in the ongoing pre-election crackdown on the opposition.

The family’s not seeking redress with the law enforcement agencies or the judiciary reflects a trust deficit among people in such institutions. It also reflects the public perception that has legitimately emerged. In 2022, police high-handedness was a recurrent headline as many opposition leaders and activists were killed and injured in police fire and attacks. The incident appears to have only escalated in the past few weeks as the country is heading towards one-sided national elections. Since October 28, more than 22,000 BNP leaders and activists have been arrested. In many cases, law enforcement agencies have detained politically innocent parents, children, or even wives of opposition activists, mostly accused in framed criminal cases and unavailable for arrest. Moreover, statements of a number of police officials have added to the public fears that the law enforcement agencies are furthering the cause of the ruling Awami League. The judiciary also appears to be suffering from a trust deficit, especially after the hurried conviction of about 1,400 BNP leaders and activists, accused of ‘criminal offences’ for taking part in the movement for free, fair and inclusive elections in the past three months, based, in most cases, on the witnesses of the police who filed the cases.

The partisan role of the law enforcement agencies and the high-handed treatment of the opposition and dissent have been the well-spring of a partisan application of the law and a major contributor to the deteriorating rights situation and the democratic backslide. The Awami League, the government it presides over and the law enforcement agencies must understand that a partisan use of law enforcement agencies and the legal system destroys democracy and erodes people’s rights. The government must form an independent commission to investigate all wrongs perpetrated by law enforcement agencies.