At a time when the security forces have come under sustained criticism for abuse of authority and human rights violations in the name of the armed conflict, the police department has taken the initiative to punish policemen found acting against the department’s norms and regulations. It is commendable that departmental action has been taken against 996 police personnel for behaving “against the ethics” of the police force. While stern action was taken against 109 police personnel for violating human rights in the year 2062 BS, 72 were sacked, 57 suspended and 717 issued warning, according to the police headquarters. It is said that around 167 complaints were filed against police staff last year alone, and after probing the complaints, 91 promotions were withheld and 59 employees were demoted. It is good that those guilty of misusing authority in the police department have been brought to book in a befitting manner. One hopes justice has been properly meted out in all the cases.

The public, for whose protection the policemen are put at job in the first place, deserves to know in fairly good detail the findings of the inquiry and whether all the guilty are being held accountable. While on the one hand there are all sorts of charges of rape, murder, disappearances from custody and others against many police personnel, on the other, the crime rate in the country has not been brought under control. Some 9,244 cases of crime are already registered so far in the current fiscal year, and in comparison to last year’s, the number has gone up by 622 cases. It is thus imperative that the police department takes immediate effective steps to cleanse itself of such unworthy elements if it wishes to arrest the declining rate of public trust in it. Boosting the sapping morale of the honest and dedicated ones in the force is another area requiring urgent attention. It would be better if other sectors too drew a lesson from this initiative and followed suit in the process to root out corruption and rights abuses from the system.