The recent initiative by police to collect personal details of tenants in Dhaka city in prescribed forms has evoked mixed reaction among residents.
Although a section of Dhaka residents view the initiative as a positive step a good number of them are fearing its misuse.
A number of citizens and also security analysts, lawyers expressed their concern over the initiative.
A Supreme Court lawyer yesterday served a legal notice to the government and police, seeking explanation for the move.
He urged the government to halt the police initiative and said he would take legal action if it is not stopped as there is no data protection act in Bangladesh under which a victim can find remedy if his personal information is leaked or misused.
The information will be preserved at police stations and DMP’s central database, said police.
Talking to the residents of several areas it was found that they were scared their personal information might fall in wrong hands.
“How could I trust the force when we have recently seen their involvement in crimes? There are lots of allegations of public harassment and attempts of extracting money from them by law enforcers,” said a tenant.
Besides, it could destroy normal relation with house owners, he said.
Some police officials concerned too echoed the view, saying that they also fear that some people of a locality might develop a good relation with beat police officials.
Common people might be subjected to harassment by corrupt informants if the total process is not strongly monitored.
A number of police officials also fear that local political influence could spoil their effort.
Associate Professor of political science at Dhaka University Shantanu Majumder said there was possibility that the move could affect the relation between tenants and owners.
Supreme Court lawyer advocate Shariar Shakir told the Dhaka Tribune that the initiative can be effective if police come out of their culture of disrespecting people.
Faculty member of criminology department of Dhaka University, Syed Mahfujul Haque Marjan said police behaviour needed to be changed to make the attempt a success.
Legal notice served to refrain from collecting personal information Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua sent a legal notice requesting the government to refrain from demanding personal information about tenants from the landlords in Dhaka.
In the notice, the lawyer asked the recipients to inform him within 24 hours the legal basis of the action of providing personal information to landlord. Otherwise, he mentioned that he would seek legal protection in court.
Stating that he is personally affected by the government instruction, Jyotirmoy Barua said there is no specific law to ask for all this private information unless there is a valid order from a competent court.
He also wanted to know under what basis the government is asking his private information and also how the information will be stored and under which law.
The information asked by police is the total information a person is needed to complete any official transaction, including applying for a new national ID card, bank account or even a passport.
DMP sources said local tenant information would be collected and maintained by the city’s police stations concerned and shared through a central DMP database.
The efforts were revived recently after the Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit of police raided two houses in Badda and Mohammadpur to recover explosives and arrested Ansarullah Bangla Team members earlier this month.
According to Section 42 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, every citizen must help the police for government or investigation work.
Under this section, police can seek information from anyone and citizens must cooperate. If necessary, the police can also take action under this section.
