Is he just a cop?

The idea that the common people had about the police since the British era is not very pleasant. The popular perception of traditional policing has alienated the police from the ranks of the common man. But in the last one-and-a-half decades, the perception of the police has changed a lot. 'Police is the friend of the people' is no longer just in the book. In fact, the police are becoming friends of the people.

DMP Commissioner Habibur Rahman is one of the pioneers of this revolutionary change. Apart from performing government duties as a police officer, this man, who brought the most marginalised communities like Bedes (Gypsy), Hijras (Transgender) and occupational sex workers on the path of transition, became the commissioner of DMP. This is a great news for those backward people.

Every innovative work of Habibur Rahman has been recognised by various departments of the government, even from the state’s highest executive head, Hon'ble Prime Minister. The Uttaran Foundation he founded has started turning the life cycle of Bedes, Hijras and sex workers around.

Habibur Rahman has freed the marginalised Bede community from the four and a half hundred years of miserable life and brought them back to the mainstream of society. Due to his wholehearted initiative, there is now a school in Savar's Bede Palli where children can learn general education. He established madrasha where children are getting religious education. Under the patronage of Uttaran Foundation, the cornered Bede community has got the opportunity to succeed in government and private jobs, local government elections and various businesses.

A transgender child born in a gentleman's house like ours falls out of the mainstream of society after growing up. Habibur Rahman has continued his relentless efforts to bring that community back to the mainstream of society.

When we hear the word 'Hijra', we see the faces of people standing on the street and making obscene gestures and extorting money from people. But their lives are now turning around. In fact, after the government recognised transgenders as a third gender in 2013, a sense of entitlement arose among them. After that, Habibur Rahman could listen to their hearts and thus he was able to bring this impossible change.

With the patronage and support of the Uttaran Foundation, many transgender people are now living elegant lives like the mainstream public; few of them became a successful farmer in the agricultural sector. Few of them created remarkable footprints in the gent’s saloons and ladies’ beauty parlors. Some of them have achieved the incredible success in street restaurant business. One has received a nationwide response as a newsreader. Another one has made a name for herself as a book writer, along with highlighting the country in international meetings and seminars, they have paved the way for their empowerment in union parishad elections, city corporation elections and upazila parishad elections in Bangladesh.

When sex workers were untouchable by the society, they were not given a funeral after death, there was not even any normal burial following by minimum rules of religion; Habibur Rahman played a rare role in establishing the posthumous religious rights of sex workers. As a result of his single initiative sex workers now get a normal burial when they die in the Brothel of Daulatdia. Now he continues to fight to create alternative employment opportunities for sex workers including to grow up their children with social status.

Not only he has contributed to sustaining the lives and livelihoods of marginalised people, he saved the highly endangered and flourishing ‘Thar’ language of the Bede community from certain extinction from this world.

The policeman has been continuously researching for eight years and has documented the material of the 'Thar' language of the Bede community. He authored the book entitled 'Thar: Bede Janogoshthir Bhasha' which is written with an academic perspective in mind. This book is simultaneously a history and dictionary of the Bede community along with their language. In recognition of his work, Habibur Rahman received the International Mother Language Award given by the Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2023.

Habibur Rahman, who works in silence, has attained the post of commissioner of DMP. There is no doubt that it will take DMP and Bangladesh Police one step ahead. But more than that, because he is the commissioner of DMP, it is a matter of great happiness that the citizens of the capital have more confidence in the police service and the light of hope in the minds of the marginalised and deprived people of the society.

Writer: M M Mahbub Hasan, Banker and Development Researcher

/MHK/