Policeman withdrawn for ‘harassing’ Juba Dal leader’s wife

A sub-inspector posted at Adabor Police Station was withdrawn after he was accused of harassing the wife of a Juba Dal leader.

The woman alleged that SI Ratan Kumar Hawladar stopped her near Mohammadpur’s Shia Masjid on Sunday afternoon.

He then allegedly forced her inside a shop where he used obscene language and compelled her to take off her jacket.

Her husband, a leader of the Juba Dal’s Adabor unit, had been arrested last year in a case filed under the Explosives Act.

“Ratan Hawlader was temporarily withdrawn at night after we received the complaint,” Tejgaon DC Biplob Kumar Sarkar told bdnews24.com.

“An additional deputy commissioner will investigate the matter. Action will be taken after we get his report.”

The woman, a student at a private university, wrote in her complaint she was returning from class when SI Ratan stopped her rickshaw on the road.

He forced her into a nearby shop where he said she would be frisked. The policeman then cleared the shop of other people and pulled down the shutters.

“He kept asking about my husband’s whereabouts. He even threatened to arrest me on false charges of possessing yaba tablets if I refused to tell him.”

“I kept urging him to get a policewoman or any woman or do the frisking at the police station, but he didn’t listen. He even said some indecent things, besides threatening to implicate me as a prostitute and a drug peddler.”

Her husband alleged that SI Ratan forced her to take off her jacket and he even searched her purse.

The policeman has denied the allegations and said he had first met her when she went to the police station after her husband had been chargesheeted in the explosives case last year.

Probe ordered, committee formed  
 
The court on Monday ordered a judicial enquiry over the incident. Police have also formed a three-member police probe committee.

Judge Salauddin Ahmed, of the fourth Women and Child Repression Prevention Tribunal, gave the order after the victim filed a complaint, said Advocate Abu Ala Md Helali.

He told bdnews24.com: "This order will go to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and he will appoint a Metropolitan Magistrate to do the enquiry." 

Meanwhile, DMP Deputy Police Commissioner (Media) Md Maruf Hossain Sardar said a three-member police enquiry team was formed following an order by the DMP chief. It will be led by a Joint Police Commissioner (Protection).

Sardar told bdnews24.com that the team, have been asked to file its report within three working days.