The "Victim Police Families" have demanded the reinstatement of 2,200 police officers who were dismissed during the previous Awami League government.
They raised their demands at a press conference at the National Press Club’s Maulana Mohammad Akram Khan Hall on Tuesday.
The dismissed officers stated that Bangladesh’s 16-year autocratic rule was overthrown through student and public uprisings. During that time, they claimed, state institutions were systematically dismantled, including the Bangladesh Police.
They alleged that nearly 2,200 officers were unfairly dismissed, spreading fear among lower-ranking personnel.
As a result, during the July-August uprising, some senior officials issued unlawful orders, which officers were forced to follow to keep their jobs, even committing atrocities against their will.
They further alleged that under the autocratic regime, many senior officers manipulated the system, falsely implicating personnel in ‘fabricated and baseless’ cases to remove them from service. Departmental investigations, they claimed, were one-sided, relying on biased testimonies to ensure that the accused could not prove their innocence in court. Despite multiple court rulings in their favor, reinstatement was denied.
With the fall of the autocratic regime, the dismissed officers accused certain elements within the police force of delaying their reinstatement despite previous assurances. They urged the current government to restore their positions with full benefits and remove all remnants of the past regime from the Bangladesh Police.