Nobody has right to take law into own hands: Home Adviser

Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury on Thursday said that no one holds the right to take the law into their own hands.

"If anyone commits any crimes, then the person should be handed over to the law enforcers. You don’t have the right to take the law into your own hands," the advisor said in reply to a reporter's query about the ongoing mob justice.

Commenting on the recent incidents at Dhaka University and Jahangirnagar University, the adviser said he had taken notice.

"It was not supposed to happen as they (university students) are highly educated, an awareness should be there among them," said Jahangir Alam at the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Headquarters after holding a meeting with top police officials.

The Home Adviser suggested raising mass awareness to prevent mob justice and ensure that no innocent person falls victim to harassment.

At Jahangirnagar University, former Chhatra League leader Shamim Ahmed and at Dhaka University, a man named Tofazzal were both beaten to death on Wednesday night.

Another topic brought up by reporters was that after the massive uprising of students and people, cases are being filed accusing hundreds of people, and the complainant does not even know who the accused are.

In response, the advisor said, "Police used to file cases earlier. Have any police filed any cases during this period?"

"Police earlier used to file cases accusing tens, and hundreds of others unnamed. Police are not filling any cases… common citizens are filling the cases. Please come to me if you find any of such cases filed by the police," said Jahangir.

Regarding the continuous filling of cases, the advisor said, "You have to tell this to the citizens that file cases against actual criminals."

Regarding the meeting with police officials, the advisor said that the police force suffered a lot, for which reason they have struggled to work.

Jahangir said that they have instructed the force so that police can regain their former glory by energising their minds so that people-friendly policing becomes a reality, and does not only remain on paper.

The main point of discussion during the meeting was how fast police can go back to their previous form as quickly as possible and become people-friendly police as expected by everyone, the adviser added.