Criminal Justice System In Bangladesh: Issues and Challenges of Police Investigation

Abstract

This study aims to explore the various issues and challenges in the criminal justice system of Bangladesh, particularly what challenges investigating officers face before, during and after investigation regarding four types of cases. They are crime against person (murder), crime against property violence against women (rape), transnational crime (cybercrime). As a crucial arm of law enforcement, the police investigation processes face numerous obstacles, including workload, insufficient training, poor inter-agency coordination, long working hours, and strained relations with the community and in the process of investigation in the criminal justice system. The research seeks to identify the issues of police investigation in the broader context of crime investigation, submitting the report and ensuring the justice processes. This research is based on empirical study which has also explored the manifold challenges in the process of the criminal justice system in Bangladesh. To achieve this, the study adopts a mixed method approach, utilizing surveys and KII to gather diverse perspectives from 400 law enforcement officers, 50 public prosecutors, 30 judges, criminal justice experts, and 40 complainants/victims and 6 Key Informant Interview (KII). Surveys have been conducted among the police officers of different units involved in police investigation to collect information about the issues and challenges before, during and after investigation. The survey information outlines that police are heavily overloaded with excessive work and they are not getting expert opinion on time –DNA, medical report, viscera report, contamination of crime-scene by public and media, lack of training, lack of logistics and technological support, Internal & External pressure, practices filing false case, lack of cooperation from witness and victims, lack of women police etc. Interviews with judges and experts have also given insights about the manifold issues in the criminal justice system in Bangladesh.