Much has been said about the arrest of footballer Daniel Bogdanovich and his purported release from police custody to be able to play for his club.

According to the story that broke on MaltaToday, the footballer was released by the Gozo police after pressure was exerted on them by “a ministry official”.

Mr Bogdanovich, a former Malta international, plays for Xewkija Tigers. He was arrested on a Saturday evening, the eve of an important game for his team, on charges of domestic violence and carrying a licensed firearm. However, he was apparently released hours later and was, thus, able to play the game on Sunday. He was then arraigned under arrest on Monday. The case continues and Mr Bogdanovich was granted bail.

Two salient points emerge from this episode. The one that has attracted most attention is interference in police work. The other is the plight of victims of domestic violence which, in this case, seems to have been overlooked in the melee that followed the controversial news story.

The charges against Mr Bogdanovich are serious, even though they still have to be proved in a court of law and, until then, he must be presumed innocent. With so much stress rightly being placed on combatting domestic violence, it begs the question as to whether the police acted in the best interest of the victim in this case.

It is unclear why Mr Bogdanovich was released after his first arrest. There may be valid reasons but his subsequent arraignment under arrest does raise a number of questions.

Did the police factor in the potential impact on the victim when the decision was taken to release him? Was a safety report drawn up to determine whether and what level of protection the victim required?

It is good that the inquiry board set up by the Office of the Prime Minister to investigate this case was also tasked to determine whether provisions in domestic violence cases were adequate. Hopefully, it would shed light on police practices and identify the shortcomings that perpetuate the sense of helplessness victims of domestic violence often experience.

But this case has wider implications. If it is proven that the police inspector responsible for the case capitulated to external or internal pressure to release Mr Bogdanovich it would deal another serious blow to the credibility of the police force.

The police must have the operational independence to act as they deem fit with adequate safeguards to ensure the rights of the accused are protected. When this independence is lost as a result of external pressure, anything becomes possible and everything becomes suspect. It would also embolden anybody to try and influence investigations.

It is worrying, to say the least, that someone would have the audacity of even making the phone call to exert pressure on an officer to release a suspect, more so when this concerned a football game.

It would be infinitely worse if the phone call was made by a ministry official, as alleged by MaltaToday.

The government did well to act immediately and set up the inquiry. One hopes the probe gets to the bottom of things and that no stone is left unturned. The seriousness of the allegations made are too big and can have devastating repercussions. That is another good reason why the findings should be published.

The rights of domestic violence victims and the credibility of the police are at stake.