Dhaka: With charred walls, shattered windows, ransacked rooms, doors hanging off their hinges, files strewn around, trunks broken open, a fleet of vehicles burnt down to mere frames, and no policemen in sight, the once-functional police station in Dhaka’s Jatrabari is now deserted.
The scene tells a harrowing story of how the police were caught unprepared, when a mob of hundreds, angered over the police opening fire at student protesters, stormed the station, armed with petrol bombs, stones, sticks, kerosene and more, on the afternoon of 5 August.
Six officers lost their lives that day. Two were reportedly burned to death, and two members of the Ansar battalion—a paramilitary force—were brutally killed.
Weapons, ammunition, tear gas shells were looted, walkie-talkies and radios stolen, case files torn to shreds, and police vehicles set ablaze, leaving the Bangladesh police not only weaponless, but also vulnerable and gripped by fear.
This was not a lone attack on a police station. Data accessed by ThePrint from sources in the Bangladesh interim government showed that over 460 establishments, including 60 police stations, police posts and barracks, have been burnt and vandalised, and 1,000 police vehicles torched since 5 August.
Over 44 policemen were killed within days and 2,466 were injured, of which over 406 sustained grievous injuries, according to the data.
Miscreants had a free run as the police, under attack by students for allegedly siding with the government and shooting at protesters, emptied out the roads, refusing to return to work.
As Bangladesh struggles to return to normalcy, following the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina on 5 August, which brought down a government that had been in power for more than 16 years, police stations have now resumed operations.
The strike by police personnel was called off last week after a meeting with the interim government’s home advisor after the department put forth a list of demands, including assurance of their safety.
However, the fear among them, especially the ones lower in the hierarchy, is still palpable.
“We may have resumed duty, but we are only carrying out limited operations. What do we do without our weapons?” an officer asked. “We are in fear, anything can happen. We could get lynched, like many of our colleagues, and no one would protect us,” he added.
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‘I want to forget’
The personnel posted at police stations that were vandalised are now operating from buildings of other police stations. For instance, the staff of Jatrabari police station is now working out of Demra.
“I shudder at the thought of how I escaped that attack. We were all working at the station, when we heard loud noises of people breaking cars, setting them on fire outside the station. The guards said that the police station had come under attack. I saw from the window and the mob was coming for us, armed with sticks, bricks, petrol bombs, kerosene… it was a horrific sight,” said an officer from the Jatrabari police station who wished to not be named, recalling the afternoon of 5 August.
“Some personnel tried to hide inside the building, but the mob entered the premises, broke windows, furniture, went for the weapons and stole everything. They took pistols, ammunition, even police case files, almirahs, trunks. The windows were smashed, policemen were dragged out and beaten mercilessly,” he added.
Despite requests to let go, the angry mob kept beating the policemen. “They were thirsty for our blood,” he said.
A second personnel told ThePrint, “One of my colleagues was dragged away in front of me, and later, his body was found. He was killed. We tried to escape from the back, but were caught. I don’t even want to describe what happened, I want to forget it like it was a bad dream. Today, I just want to thank Allah for being alive,” he said, his hands visibly shaking.
Fear, demand for action
Speaking to ThePrint, several policemen claimed that among the key demands they put before the interim government was their security, registration of cases against miscreants who murdered their colleagues, and compensation to families of those who were killed.
“We feel that no one is supporting us, not even the senior officers. We came under attack, but not a single case has been registered against the miscreants. They now tell us that cases are being registered,” a third personnel said. “Our morale is extremely low at this point. The local people are after us because they feel that we killed their men. And we do not even have any support from the seniors. We just hope the interim government does something for us.”
A senior police officer, who wished to not be named, told ThePrint that the higher authorities are aware of the problem within the police department, and are working on ensuring that their confidence in the system is restored.
“The department needs an overhaul. It needs reforms and we are working towards them. Moreover, the police force also needs to win the trust of the people back, which is a huge challenge, considering what has happened over the past few months. It is a work in progress,” he said.
Although work has resumed and police stations are operational, it is being done on a “limited scale”.
A fourth personnel said, “The police stations are fully running, but since the infrastructure is limited, the resources are few.”
“We go out for patrolling in a group of four-five, and not to areas that are too dangerous or are still volatile. We are now registering cases and investigating, and even making arrests, but again, not in full scale. It is better if we lay low for some time,” he added.
The police, with the help of the Army, are also carrying out drives to recover the weapons that were looted.
According to data shared by sources, 1,234 arms, 20,778 rounds of ammunition, 1,482 tear gas shells and 72 sound grenades have been recovered till now and the exercise is underway.
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‘They tortured students, but…’
Rifat, a student protester, and his friends are sitting at a desk in the compound of the vandalised Jatrabari police station, making a to-do list for the week ahead.
They have been coming to the police station voluntarily to “guard it”, they say.
The anger with the police, however, has not subsided. Each time they talk about police action in the ongoing agitation, they get aggressive.
“They fired at us. They are all corrupt. They killed hundreds of students on the order of Sheikh Hasina,” one of them said.
“Then they tried to crush our movement by shutting down the internet, so that people don’t get to connect, regroup. Hasina’s police illegally arrested so many students and made them disappear overnight. We all were threatened over the phone to call off this agitation and all this was done with the help of the police. Why would we trust them then?” he remarked.
Anas asked his friend to calm down. “She (Hasina) has left. We are now free,” he said. All of them break into a laugh.
He went on, “All officers close to Hasina must go. The police department has to be cleaned up. Only then people will start trusting them.”
“See, we are guarding this police station now to prevent any further attacks. But our anger is not misplaced. We will give them (police) another chance,” he said.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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