Four-year-old accused!

The accusation lodged against young Mehedi, apart from being almost comical in its absurdity, actually serves to highlight some pervasive problems that continue to plague the police in this country. The first is that this is yet another example of the police simply not performing with even minimal competence and efficiency. Even a cursory investigation into the matter would have revealed that one of the accused was a small child whose name should have been excluded from the first information report.

Yet more worrying is the suggestion made by Mehedi's father that the accusation was not merely due to a failure to investigate but that it was the basis for extortion. In other words, this was no careless mistake, which would be bad enough, but premeditated villainy. Mehedi's father claims that his other son Aktharuzzaman who was also implicated was not even in the district at the time of the alleged looting and that he has had to pay Tk 5,000 in bribes for the release of himself and other family members. The fact that so many of the accused were from one family also suggests that their arrest might have been linked to some kind of personal feud.

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The point is that, for whatever reason, too many young children are accused, arrested and imprisoned for crimes they could not possibly have committed. It is only after reports in the media and public outcry that they are released. The police must ensure that this kind of gross injustice is not repeated.