EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The nature of crime in the largest enclave - Dohogram in Bangladesh - has become a serious
concern these days. This study has been undertaken in association with Police Staff College,
Bangladesh. Many statistic analysies and police reports reveal said that the crime rate in these
enclaves is on an ascendency.Owing to Since, is as the strategic importance of this enclve
being the longest, this ever-increasing rate of crime has been issue of policy policing debate
in Dhaka. Supported by the Police Staff College Tthe study has reviewed the present crime
day scenario at the Dohogram enclave and it sought to address the extent of crimewith a
veiew to suggesting some

and suggest policy recommendationss. Simaltaneoulsy, The

purpose of the study is quest the also has revealed some background dynamics of these
crimes and to and presented a spatial distribution. of crime.
This study was conducted Data on has been gathered thorough a the combination of both
primary and secondary sources. of data. The data for this study comes from aWe have
collected data through a purposive cluster sample survey of 202 respondents in Dohogram
enclave. Primary data have been collected through questionnaire survey, face-to-face
interview, Focused Group Discussion (FGD) and case study method. The Ccollected data
later have been were analyzed and processed by using computer with the help of SPSS
program.
The Dohogram enclave is connected with the mainland by a strip of land named as Tin
Bigha Corridor. There is a popular conventional saying that wisdom is that this corridor it
can be is broadly used as a rout for women and child trafficking. It has also can also been
used as a convenient point for smuggling - escaping customs and excise duties- , importing of
contraband and a point of entry for illegal aliens. avoiding customs and excise duties,
importing of contraband, and a point of entry for illegal aliens. This enclave might be used as
safe haven for Ccriminals have been, over the years, using the emclave as a safe heaven. for
expanding criminal activities. Apart from, since the law enforcing agencies comparatively
less active in this enclave might not be much more active than other parts of the country.
There are some misconceptions about the pople of this enclave such as due to As enclave is a
restriction of the land ed and a perceived relative land and people are deprivion ed of
facilities from the government, there is a general tendency among so people to be indocentric. People seem to be less nationalistic might not be patrioticand and, in some extreme
cases, they would prefer to be Indian citizen. People also seem to might suffer from an

identity crisis . But our But our findings during the field work found contrary to these belief
of general people popular assumpstions. Generally speaking, people of Dohogram are
patriotic and commoners - loyal to the law of the state. aAnd no people feel identity crisis
even though there some paucities of public amenities.

since t Constituionaly, they are

entiltled to hey have voting right and like all other citizens of Bangladesh. facilities. They
get are entitled to all types of government facilities. Moreover, empirical data revealed that it
is neither used by crimninals nor a safe route for trafficking of women and children. But
migrant people of outside of this enclave area use this route to reach India illegally with the
help of Tekna (??). Morover, Tthe presence of law enforcing agencies is also remarkable.
Owing to social As interaction and general prosimity among the people is very high, they
know eachone another other. So, there is no chance of today for the criminals to use the
enclave as a hideout.hiding themselves in this area.During the survey, 100% respondents
expressed without any hesitation that they would prefer to be Bangladeshi than Indian.
From this study, it is found that the socio-economic conditions of the enclave dwelllers
people are is developing upgrading day by day. All the respondents claimed that positive
changes have taken place at has come in all spheres of their life after opening the corridor for
24 hours. The educational scenario in this enclave has also become shown a positive
upward change trend . Aalthough quality education remains a concern. is not ensured, Aall
most 100% children are going to school. In terms of profession, many Maximum people of
this enclave dwellers are small or marginal farmers and some of them people are also
engaged in with cattle trading business. Transport infrastructure is facilities are not so good.
comparatively poor: nNo bus move across the corridor. to the enclave. Almost 80% people
use mobile phone which has . It has some impacted society negatively negative impact in
society like: 65% young people and 82% adult are watching pornography. (82%) is on the
rise among young (65%) people. About 92% respondents of the enclave dwellers regret
expressed with deep sorry that they are often deprived of government aids facilities due to
because of lack of properuneven distribution by the unaccountable local representatives.
Another important finding of this research is that because of the continuos river erosion on
the bank of Tista , about 40% of their cultivable lands have drained away into the water of
Tista. gone under the bed of Tista River.
It is also found from the study that crimes such as there are no existences of rioting, crimes
under Arms Act and Explosive Act, hijacking, acid throwing and murder are almost nonexistant in this enclave. On the other hand, there are high frequency of crimes such as cCattle

sSmuggling, drug trafficking, illegal border crossing, child marriage, dowry, rape, political
violence, Hundi (illegal money transfer), white collar crime, sexual harassment, prostitution,
stealing, robbery, usurer are present here.Social values and religious beliefs are very strong in
this area. Low level of thats why the level of drug addiction, juvenile delinquency crime ,
pornography, prostitution, rape , and sexual harassment outline peoples moral integrity. is
very low addressed by the respondents.
Ganja (??) and Phencidiel are trafficked in this area but there is no existence of Heroine and
wine. But during the field survey, respondents mentioned, sometimes Motor cycle, Bicycle,
Choi-pata, cloth, betel-nut are smuggleding in this area.
Cattle smuggling has reached in an is at alarming stage even though it which is not
considered as a crime in this area.The ruling political elites, as well as the local Police as well
as and BGB take percentage from cattle traders for each Indian cow.
One of the important findings is that local disputes are settled here through traditional
Shalish. Maximum respondents claimed they do not get justice in Shalish because of political
influence. Almost 88% respondents said that after opening the corridor for 24 hours, political
influence has increased in all spheres of life.
A remarkable finding is that almost 95% respondents have mentioned about the high
prevalence of addressed the level of dowry and child marriage is very highin their society.
The rate of dowry and early marriage is comparatively high in Vatiya ( what is Vatiya)
community. In Vatiya community, both boys and girls usually marry at are married off at the
age of 12-13.
Based on these empirical findings, we can recommend deduce a number of policy
implications. One of such as prioritiesy should include implemention of ing the Land
Boundary Protocol 2011 with India. Government should increase bi-lateral negotiation with
India which will improve overall administrative management in the enclave. Improving
infrastructure could be an impressive issue for the policy makers since it might impact on
bilateral trade capacity of this particular area. Generating public awareness program could be
a useful policy for policy makers to in combating child marriage and dowry. Policy makers
can undertake vocational training programmes for youth and unemployed people. Ensuring
effective border management policy from both Indian and Bangladeshi side could also be a

splendid prime issue to ensure free movement of the people in this enclave. Policy should be
taken from local administration and law enforcing agencies to reduce crime.