Staff Reporter :The High Court on Wednesday ordered the state to give Tk 50 lakh to Abdul Jalil, a resident in Char Fassion of Bhola district as compensation as he served 14 years’ jail term due to ‘wrong conviction’ in a case filed for violating a minor girl.The court released the full text of its verdict acquitting Abdul Jalil from the case and ordered the State to pay the compensation to him as he had been tried under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act despite being an adolescent and lost his valuable time in jail.The single-member HC bench of Justice AFM Abdur Rahman passed the order.The court also ordered authorities concerned to release him if no other case was pending against Jalil.According to case statement, on September 24, 2001, a case was filed with Char Fassion Police Station against Abdul Jalil when he was only 16 for violating a minor girl under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.On August 30, 2004, a Women and Children Repression Prevention tribunal sentenced Jalil to life term imprisonment and fined him Tk 10,000.As Jalil filed an appeal to the High Court, seeking his acquittal from the case ,the court ordered retrial of the case.On March 8, 2010, the tribunal again sentenced him to life term imprisonment and fined Tk 20,000.Jalil again filed a petition with the High Court against the tribunal’s verdict.On December 15, 2015, the High Court granted his appeal and acquitted him from the case.In the verdict text, the court said the verdict of the tribunal was not fair as the accused was 16-year-old when the crime had taken place.
