The massive wealth accumulated by a top police official, whose primary task is to maintaini law and order, is hard to fathom. The scale and magnitude of the former IGP’s wealth acquisition make it clear that it is not possible through petty grafts, but rather requires extortion and corruption at the highest level. To understand this issue, we must look back at the tenure of the former police chief Benazir Ahmed.  Benazir uniquely served in three of the most coveted roles in the police force: Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Director General of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), and Inspector General of Police (IGP). These positions ideally require extraordinary competence, integrity, and professional excellence. Did you know that he was awarded the Integrity Award for the year 2020-21 in recognition of his integrity in the profession? According to a Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) report, on June 28, 2022, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal handed over the...

  At a time when Bangladesh’s position on the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index is 127th out of 140 countries - lowest among South Asian neighbours except  Pakistan and Afghanistan, with a continual drift over the last three years - it is heartening to hear our new chief justice, Obaidul Hassan, pronounce that “the judiciary and courts should not be politicised in any manner.” Addressing his fellow judges and members of the Supreme Court Bar Association on October 8, that  "In light of the constitution, let the judicial administration be transparent, independent, free from corruption, and congruent with the idea of social justice." CJ Hassan’s open expression of the desire to not politicise the judiciary is significant, and not only because the main opposition has been alleging for quite some time that the current judiciary system is entirely under the control of the government , but for its own sake.There’s a growing perception that as we are witnessing a disturbi...

Two verdicts in two different countries, located thousands of miles apart, by the respective supreme courts last week have stoked a serious debate about the role of the judges and politicisation of the judiciary. Both these countries are known to be models of democracies - one for unfettered freedom of speech and the other for the vast number of its constituents. Both these verdicts have huge implications on the future of democracy beyond their borders, as the disputes involved religion and politics.   One of these two verdicts was in the United States. A nearly 50-year-old ruling which had given women reproductive freedom was reversed, which has shocked the majority and drawn criticism from world leaders, but bolstered American conservatives and anti-abortion Christian faith groups. The appointment process of the US Supreme Court justices is known for its notorious political exercises.  The other verdict was in India, in which the Supreme Court has not only given the Pri...