Staff Reporter :
A petition was placed with the High Court on Tuesday seeking its interference over the incident of a teenage girl who was said to have been murdered, but rescued alive on Monday, 51 days after she went missing from Bandar upazila of Narayanganj.
The application has questioned the accuracy, legitimacy and rationality of the abduction case that was filed by her father with the Narayanganj Model Police Station after the disappearance of the girl. It also questioned the legality of the confessional statements of the three accused arrested in the case after the case has been filed.
Five petitioners have sought High Court’s direction for calling the case records.
Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir, a Supreme Court lawyer, submitted the petition on Tuesday on behalf of five other Supreme Court lawyers, Md Asad Uddin, Md Jobayedur Rahman, Md Ashraful Islam, Md Al Reza Amir and Md Misbah Uddin.
The lawyers sought High Court’s interference in the incident under Section 435 and 439 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
As per the Section 435 of the CrPC, the High Court Division may call for and examine the record of any proceeding before any lower Criminal Court situated within the local limits of its or his jurisdiction for the purpose of satisfying itself or himself as to the correctness, legality or propriety of any finding, sentence or order recorded or passed, and as to the regularity of any proceedings of such inferior Court.
Lawyer Shishir Manir said that their application is an exceptional one because the step that has been initiated by them in the wake of the incident is not in line with the norms. But the High Court has the jurisdiction to exercise its power in some exceptional cases, added the lawyer.
Deputy Commissioner, Chief Judicial Magistrate and Police Commissioner of Narayanganj, Officer in Charge of Sadar Police Station, Investigation Officer of the Case, complainant and accused of the case have been made respondents in the application. Three accused arrested in the case gave confessional statements on August 9 under Section 164 in separate courts in Narayanganj senior. In their confessional statements, the accused said that they had killed the minor girl after raping her and dumped her body in the Sitalakhya River.
The three accused are in jail now. But 51 days after the abduction, the girl was rescued alive. The teenager is now married and has a family.
On Monday, various news outlets published reports on this. Advocate Shishir Manir brought the reports to the attention of the High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman for necessary orders. But the court directed the lawyer to file an application in written over the issue. Then the five lawyers filed the application.
Published reports quoting the police officials said that the underage girl had been missing since July 4. Later on August 6, her father filed a case with Narayanganj Sadar Police Station as they failed to find out her.
Following the call list of the missing girl’s mother cell phone, police later arrested three persons, Md Abdullah, 22, Md Rakib, 19, and Khalilur Rahman, 36.
On August 9, the accused testified under Section 164 in separate courts in Narayanganj when they said that they had killed the minor after raping her and dumped her body in the Sitalakhya River.
According to the police, the girl on Monday called her mother and asked for money from a rented house of Kushiyara area of Bandar Upazila. Later in the morning, police went to the area and rescued her. At the same time, police arrested her husband for marrying an underage girl.
But now a question has been raised as to why the three arrested accused gave confessional statements in the case?
