Gulam Rabbani :
Question raised over the role of law enforcers in avoiding to arrest a murder accused, Pradeep Kumar Shaha, former Officer-in Charge (OC) of Teknaf Police Station, even after a court had issued a warrant and asked to take legal action against him in a case filed in connection with the killing of Major (retd) Sinha Md Rashed Khan.
Rather the law enforcers on Thursday escorted the police official, who is a key accused, on the way to the court till his surrender. Police sometime arrest a person in the bailable case.
Senior lawyers of the Supreme Court questioned the role of law enforcing agencies in giving escort to a murder case accused. They said this is a clear violation of the law and contempt of the court order.
Sources said that Teknaf Police Station recorded the case of the killing of Major (retd) Sinha Md Rashed Khan in police firing only after a court order issued on August 5. But they did not comply with the other part of the court order to take legal
actions against the accused.
Supreme Court Bar Association President senior Advocate AM Amin Uddin said, “If any warrant is issued by a court, the police will arrest the accused as soon as they are found. There is no scope to give escort to any murder case accused after the court orders to take legal action against them.”
“What had been done by the law enforcers in case of Pradeep Kumar Shaha, former Officer-in Charge (OC) of Teknaf Police Station, is clear violation of the law and defying of the court order. The law enforcers did not comply with the court order by avoiding the arresting of a murder case accused,” he added.
Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan, another senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, said the police should have produced him in court as an arrested accused. The lawyer hoped that they (police) will co-operate the RAB in investigating the case.
Terming the role of CMP as unlawful, Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua, a human rights activist, told that police should arrest an accused as soon as he is found after any cognizable offence was recorded against him in any case. Neither the CRPC nor the PRB 1949 allows such escort for a murder accused, added the lawyer.
“According to the law, police should produce him in a Chattogram court as an arrested accused as he found in that area and then he would be shifted to a Cox’s Bazar court. No accused can get such option of getting police protocol to go to the court for surrender,” he added.
A Cox’s Bazar court on August 5 issued arrest warrant against Pradeep Kumar Shaha and eight others in the case. The warrant was issued soon after the case was recorded with the police station around 10:30 pm on the same day.
Earlier on the day, Senior Judicial Magistrate Tamanna Farha directed Teknaf Police Station to record the case. She also ordered the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) to investigate the incident and submit a report on the progress of investigation within seven days.
The nine accused in the case are: Teknaf OC Pradeep Kumar Shaha, Inspector Liaqat Ali of Baharchhara Police Investigation Centre, Sub-inspector Nandadulal Raxit of Teknaf Police Station, four constables — Safanur Karim, Kamal Hossain, Abdullah Al Mamun, and Md Mostafa, ASI Liton Mia, and SI Tutul.
Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) took Pradeep Kumar into their custody as he went to the Chattogram Metropolitan Police Headquarters Hospital on August 6. Later the CMP members along with Pradeep left for Cox’s Bazar court around 2.00 pm with an escort team.
Md Mahbubur Rahman, Commissioner of CMP claimed that Pradeep Kumar Shaha desired to surrender before the Cox’s Bazar court and they cordoned off him to there.
Asked how a murder case accused was given police escort and why the CMP did not arrest Pradeep immediately on the spot, Mahbubur Rahman told the media that they had just taken him to court so that he could not flee.
On August 5, Sinha’s sister Sharmin Shahria Ferdous filed a case at the Judicial Magistrate court of Teknaf.
Sinha, who served in the Special Security Force (SSF) and took voluntary retirement from the army two years ago, was killed in police firing at a checkpost in Cox’s Bazar on July 31 night, triggering an uproar across the country.
