Why did a high govt official threaten a traffic officer in Dhaka?

There are allegations that a deputy secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment threatened a Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) traffic police officer, in a bid to evade the law. Deputy Secretary Amar Chan Banik is the personal secretary of State Minister for Labour and Employment, Md Mujibul Haque. Banik allegedly threatened DMP Traffic Inspector (admin) South Division, Sardar Tariqul Alam Sumon, on Thursday in Dhaka when the policeman asked him to show legal documents for his wrongly parked car. The deputy secretary firmly denied the allegation of impersonating someone else. The incident drew attention after Tariqul posted a status on the social networking site Facebook. The status, along with two videos and two pictures, has gone viral, with more than 7,200 shares as of Saturday night (April 21). The DMP traffic inspector wrote in the status: “This just happened. I came to pick up my child from school. The whole road was suffering a severe traffic jam. Though not in uniform, I called a traffic sergeant using my wireless after witnessing at least ten parking violations.” “A government official, introducing himself as the prime minister’s personal secretary, refused to show me legal papers for his car. I tried to tell him repeatedly that I could not let him go without a case, because then I would have to let the other nine cars go too.” Tariqul continued in his status: “He was being rude, but I refused to let the traffic violation slide. I asked a pedestrian to record a video of the incident, and fined the government officer Tk900.“I handed over my visiting card when the secretary asked my name. I told him he could transfer me anywhere in Bangladesh, but I would remain a public servant and my salary would also remain the same.” Concluding his post, the policeman wrote: “If the secretary had admitted his mistake and had politely asked me to let him and the nine others go, I would have done so with due respect.” “But he tried to flaunt his power and only tried to save himself, not anyone else. I fined every one of them Tk900 each for parking violations. I could get transferred out of Dhaka soon enough.”

The line of duty

The bravery and sincerity of Sardar Tariqul Alam on the line of duty has garnered him a lot of respect, both from netizens and police officials. Many have commented on his post, thanking him for his deed and his firm stance against the prevalent culture of impunity. Speaking to this correspondent, the policeman gave more details about the incident. “I ran a background check on the car’s licence number and found it was owned by Amar Chan Banik. He kept introducing himself as the prime minister’s personal secretary, but he is actually a deputy secretary at the Labour Ministry,” said Tariqul. He added: “I also found out his car’s fitness certificate expired on April 28, 2015. It is quite sad when people try to falsify their identity to evade the law.” When contacted for comments, Amar Banik Chan admitted having engaged in a heated conversation with DMP Traffic Inspector Tariqul Alam, but denied introducing himself as the prime minister’s personal secretary. “I introduced myself as the personal secretary of the state minister for labor. If the traffic policeman heard something else there is nothing I can do about it. A case was filed against my driver and the matter has been closed,” he said. The secretary also claimed his car’s fitness certificate will not expire until April 26, 2018. Parts of this article was first published on banglatribune.com