Inserting Executive magistracy in metropolitan police

Recent amendment to Cr. PC needs rethinking

Razzak Raza

The London police force was created in 1829 by an act introduced in Parliament by the home secretary, Sir Robert Peel (hence the nicknames "bobbies" and "peelers" for policemen).
   The area supervised by the London Metropolitan Police includes all of Greater London with the exception of the City of London, which has its own separate police force. The Metropolitan Police's duties are the detection and prevention of crime, the preservation of public order, the supervision of road traffic, and the licensing of public vehicles. Scotland Yard keeps extensive files on all known criminals in the United Kingdom.
   The success of the Peel's Metropolitan Police soon spread worldwide and many countries of Europe and other continents introduced metropolitan police system. The British came up with the system to the Indian subcontinent, too. The rapid growth of population in the Indian cities and the innovative modus operandi of the criminals compelled the British ruler to introduced metropolitan police in the Indian sub-continent.
   The Bangladesh police organisation was raised and have been controlled by the Police Act of 1861. It is an outdated system designed for the rural Bangladesh. The power and authority of the police supervisors are controlled by the executive, the judiciary, especially by the magistrates (district magistrate) and by political parties in the government through the Ministry of Home Affairs. The police have not been furnished with necessary power and authority to perform their duties especially the duty of controlling crime effectively.
   
   Dual control over police
   The District Magistrate cannot interfere with the internal administration of the District Police, but the police have to work under the general control of the District Magistrate. This duel control over the police functionary invariably decreases the performance of the police.
   To avoid this sort of duel authority on police functionary, like other countries Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance (DMPO) was promulgated on 20 January, 1976. This ordinance provides the government to constitute a separate police force for Dhaka Metropolitan Area. As the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) worked well, the Government gradually enacted laws to form metropolitan polices for other city corporations. Now in Bangladesh, there are six metropolitan police forces covering the jurisdictions of the six divisional towns.
   Now, let us analysis our Metropolitan Police Ordinances to find out with what different and extra authority the Metropolitan Police Forces are bestowed. The first and foremost distinction of a metropolitan police is that they are free from the control of the District Magistrate.
   "Notwithstanding any thing contained in the Code, (Cr.PC), the Dhaka Metropolitan Area shall not, unless otherwise provided by or under this ordinance, be under the charge of and District Magistrate for any of the purposes of this ordinance (Section-4 DMPO)".
   The district police (under the Police Act 1861) need to work under the general control of the District Magistrate. (Section-4 Police Act). But the Metropolitan Police Commissioner discharges his duties under the command and control of the IGP only.
   For the safety and security of the inhabitants living under his jurisdiction the police commissioner of the metropolitan police is given a wide range of authority to make regulations. The Police Commissioner is authorised to demolish barriers on the streets and give directions to the public. He can prevent certain acts such as carrying arms, explosives for prevention of disorder. He can reserve any street or public place for any public purpose and prohibit, restrict or regulate use of music, etc.
   Another authority given to the police commissioner is his power to prohibit assembly or procession. This power of the police commissioner in this concern is the alternative to the section 144 of the Cr. PC exercised by the District Magistrate in the District.
   The police Commissioner is authorised to impose penalty for wrong driving, wrong parking obstructing footways and for causing obstruction in the street or public places. All these powers are exercised by the executive magistrate in the district.
   The requisitioning of private vehicles is another frequently done police function. According to the requisition law, District Superintendent of Police cannot requisition a vehicle. It is the Deputy Commissioner who has the legal authority to do it. However, the Commissioner of Police of a metropolitan police is authorised to requisition of vehicles.
   The authority of the metropolitan police commissioner to maintain public safety and order has made him conspicuously a police magistrate. The police Commissioner can take some special measures to make his metro dwellers' lives safe such as the employment of additional police on application, employment of additional police at certain places, dispersal of gangs, removal of persons about to commit some specific offences and removal of convicted persons of certain offences.
   
   A unique official
   The Commissioner of Police is a unique official with respect to these powers for he can expel any person legally from his jurisdiction. No public authority except the police commissioner of a metropolitan police can cause a person to leave from his jurisdiction. A court may punish an offender with both imprisonment and fine. But expelling an offender form his jurisdiction is ultravires of the court's authority. Even the Honorable President of the Republic cannot expel any citizen, though his ultimate jurisdiction covers the whole of the country.
   If a person, to whom the order of expulsion has been given, fails to withdraw himself from the metropolitan jurisdiction, he will be liable to an imprisonment up to one year or a fine up to two thousand taka.
   On the other hand, the person who left the metropolitan area upon the order of the Police Commissioner and later enters into the metropolitan area illegally; he will be liable for imprisonment up to two years, or a fine of taka 5000, or for both.
   Quick response to the citizens' call and rendering necessary services at the shortest possible time is one of the salient purposes of the metropolitan police system. The complexity of multi-faceted problems encountered by modern city dwellers demand unhindered decision making by the police managers. For this reason, the commissioner of a metropolitan police is kept above the purview of any district magistrate. The magistracy across the metropolitan jurisdiction is run by the metropolitan magistrates who are appointed under a separate legislation named 'Dhaka Metropolitan Magistracy Act 1976' (Act 86 of 1976).
   But with the recent amendment of the Code of Criminal Procedure at the back drop of the separation of judiciary from the executive branch, the metropolitan police system has lost its deciding character. The amendment pushed the authority of the district magistrate into the metropolitan jurisdiction.
   "In every district and in every Metropolitan Area, the Government shall appoint as many persons as it thinks fit to be Executive Magistrate and shall appoint one of them to be the District Magistrate [Section 10(1) of the Cr. PC]"
   With the separation of judiciary from the executive branch the judicial power of the District Magistrate is terminated. But the obligation of the Government to appoint District Magistrates and other executive magistrates in the metropolitan area could be considered as a compensation for the loss of the civil servants coming from the administrative cadre. The amendment will put in another boss into the line of police command to make the decision making process slower.
   The criminal justice system comprises three components, such as, the police, the courts and the corrections that is the prisons. If the police are kept outside the reform process, any reform of the judiciary will prove meaningless. The reform of the police system has been the talk of the think tanks of the country for few years. It is disappointing that the expansion of the executive magistracy up to the metropolitan jurisdiction by the amendment of the Cr. PC, will just reverse the police performance.
   It is obvious that the police, as the gatekeepers of the criminal justice system will be liable to the courts for their prosecuting roles. The executive magistracy has to play a little role in police matters. In Western countries the police officers perform a lot of duties, which are done in our country only by the magistrates. So, the authority of the executive magistrates over the police functionary is expected to be limited, if not be terminated. The metropolitan police system was considered to be a step ahead of that philosophy.

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Barack H. Obama

There has been a lot made in the recent weeks about the Muslim history of my family. Some of the things that have been said are true, others are false, so I am writing this letter to clear up the misunderstandings on this issue.
   Yes, it is true that I have a name that is common amongst Kenyan Muslims where my father came from and that my middle name is Hussein. Barack is a name which means "blessing" and Hussein is a masculine form of the word beauty. Since there is nothing inherently wrong with the concept of blessings from God and the beauty He creates I fail to see the problem with these names. Some will say wouldn't it be a problem to have a president with a name similar to the deposed and executed former dictator of Iraq? My answer to this is simply no; rather it is the strength and beauty of America that the son of an African man with a "funny sounding" name, born under British Colonial Rule, can now be a serious candidate for the presidency of the United States.
   My father was a Muslim and although I did not know him well the religion of my father and his family was always something I had an interest in. This interest became more intense when my mother married an Indonesian Muslim man and as a small child I lived in Indonesia and attended school alongside Muslim pupils. I saw their parents dutifully observing the daily prayers, the mothers covered in the Muslim hijab, the atmosphere of the school change during Ramadan, and the festiveness of the Eid celebrations.
   The man my mother was married to was not particularly religious; but he would attend the mosque on occasion, and had copies of the Quran in different languages in the home, and books of the sayings and life of the Prophet Muhammad. From time to time he would quote Islamic phrases such as "no one truly believes until he wants for his brother what he wants for himself", "oppression is worse than slaughter", and "all humans are equal the only difference comes from our deeds".
   Growing up in Hawaii with my mother and her grandparents Islam largely escaped my mind. My mother installed in me the values of humanism and I did not grow-up in a home where religion was taught.
   It was later while I attended college at Columbia University and Harvard Law that I became reacquainted with Muslims as both schools had large Muslims student populations. Some of them were my friends and many came from countries that our nation now has hostile relations with. The background I had from my early childhood in Indonesia helped me get to know them and learn from them and to me Muslims are not to be looked upon as something strange. In my experiences up until college a Muslim was no less exotic to me than a Mormon, a Jew, or a Jehovah's Witness.
   After college I settled in my adopted hometown of Chicago and lived on the South Side and worked as a community organizer. Chicago has one of the largest Muslim populations in America (estimated to be around 300,000) and Muslims make-up some of the most productive citizens in the area. I met countless numbers of Muslims in my job as an organizer and later on in my early political career. I ate in their homes, played with their kids, and looked at them as friends and peers and sought their advice.
   Therefore, when the tragic terrorist attacks of 9-11 occurred I was deeply saddened with the rest of America, and I wanted justice for the victims of this horrific attack, but I did not blame all Muslims or the religion of Islam. From my experience I knew the good character of most Muslims and the value that they bring to America. Many, who did not personally know Muslims, indicted the entire religion for the bad actions of a few; my experience taught me that this was something foolish and unwise.
   Later I had the chance to visit the homeland of my father and meet Muslim relatives of my including my grandmother. I found that these were people who wanted the same things out of life as people right here in America and worked hard, strive to make a better way for their children, and prayed to God to grant them success.
   This is what I will bring to the office of the Presidency of the United States. I will deal with Muslims from a position of familiarity and respect and at this time in the history of our nation that is something sorely needed.
   The author is a Democratic presidential hopeful in US.

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