The Election Commission says forgery of national ID card has increased because of making it a mandatory document for enjoying different services, which it has always opposed.
A number of EC officials have told the Dhaka Tribune that ignoring the commission’s suggestion different service sectors, especially banks and insurance and other private companies, have made the national ID card mandatory for getting their services, and vested interests have taken the opportunity to make illegal businesses out of it.
Law enforcers seized around 53,000 fake national ID cards on April 19.
Election Commissioner Mohammad Abu Hafiz yesterday told the Dhaka Tribune that the commission had issued circulars twice, asking all authorities concerned not to make the national ID card mandatory in any service sector.
“But no one followed it,” he said. “Aggrieved people can file cases against the institutions that have made the national ID card mandatory for getting their services.”
About the recovery of fake ID cards, the commissioner said those who forged the national ID cards would be punished as per the laws.
“As per the National Identity Card Registration Act, a person can be sentenced to maximum seven years’ imprisonment and fined Tk1 lakh for forging the national ID card,” Hafiz said.
The parliamentary standing committee on the Public Administration Ministry has assigned two lawmakers to inquire into the incident of counterfeiting of national identity card and talk to the EC on the possibility of opening of its database to stop such forgery.
At a meeting the 10-member committee observed that the EC database containing the numbers and names of nationals should be opened to enable people to verify the authenticity of the data.
