Dhaka: In the wake of street brawls over car requisition by cops for freewheeling, court blew the whistles to stop anymore requisitioning of private vehicles without any logical reason of public interest.

A High Court bench Sunday ordered the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner to make a halt, as a rights group sought the court ruling to stop the frequent car requisitioning by police.
The court also issued a rule upon the government to explain within two weeks as to why the car requisition law 1976 “should not be declared illegal”.
The HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice Md Delwar Hossain passed the orders on a writ petition filed by lawyer Monjil Morshed on behalf of Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.

In its edicts the court said that no car could be requisitioned for personal use. “The respective car owner and its driver would get due payments at current rate following any requisition,” says the HC ruling.   

Police would have to pay the owner within three days compensation if the car faced any damage during the requisition run, the High Court further said in a comprehensive settlement for the long-running problem with car requisition.

The court also took into cognizance a recent street rioting between cops and cabbies in the capital’s Farmgate area following the requisitioning of a taxi. The court ordered the city police boss to submit within three days the profiles of the police members involved in assaulting taxi drivers during the brawls, as published in various dailies on 14 May.

June 7 was set as the date for the hearing on the rule ‘why the car requisition law-1976 should not be declared illegal’.

Barrister Rafiqul Haq, Barrister Mahmudul Islam, Barrister Amirul Islam, Barrister Rokonuddin Mahmud, Azmalul Haq QC and ASM Mejbah Uddin Ahmed have been appointed amici curiae for the rule hearings.
 
BDST: 1530 hrs, 23 April 2010

JA/MRH/AK/MUA