Nor are these isolated incidents. Locals complain that they routinely suffered extortion, beating, and other violations at the hands of the Khilgaon police, and continue to agitate for strong action to be taken against the rogue elements.

The response of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) to this continued agitation by the locals of Khilgaon has been to transfer all 77 police officers away from the Khilgaon police station.

In the first place, it is safe to assume that were it not for the continuing public outcry and persistent media coverage, the DMP might have done little, if anything, to respond to the allegations of widespread police misconduct in Khilgaon.

Secondly, the DMP's chosen solution of transferring all 77 police officers en masse is not good enough.

Until such time as a thorough investigation is undertaken and serious punitive action is taken against policemen found guilty of criminal violations, the transfer order left to itself could be construed as an attempt to sweep the matter under the carpet.

Remember what happened most recently in Chittaging following the police debacle in handling the kidnapping of Jamaluddin Chowdhury. Here again, the mass transfer resorted to sounded placatory to public sentiments. At best it has been a palliative in that even with the changes the victim remains untraceable.

We need a thorough investigation into the allegations against the transferred policemen, and the DMP must understand that the public will not be satisfied with fig-leaf solutions. Those found guilty must be brought to book.