Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Monday ordered to release one Minu Akter who has been languishing in jail for three years in a murder case of Chattogram instead of the real accused.
The court at the same time ordered the authorities concerned to immediately arrest the real accused Kulsum Akter alias Kulsumi.
The court also summoned four persons to appear before it on June 28 for explaining their position if they had any role in
sending Minu to the jail instead of Kulsumi relating to the murder case.
The four persons are— advocate MA Naser, special public prosecutor of Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-2 of Chattogram, advocate Nurul Anwar and advocate Bibekananda of Chattogram Judge Court and Sourav, an advocate clerk.
The HC Bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim passed the order after holding hearing on the case. Lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir appeared in the court on behalf of Minu Akter while attorney general AM Amin Uddin represented the State.
Earlier Mr Shishir Manir submitted some newspaper reports in this regard in the court for necessary orders.
According to the case documents, a Chattogram court in 2017 sentenced Kulsumi for life term imprisonment and also fined her in a murder case filed with Chattogram Kotwali Police Station in 2006. But Kulsumi was not present during the judgement delivered by the relevant court in 2017.
Later Minu Akter was hired and produced before the court for surrender in the same case on June 12 in 2018 instead of real accused Kulsumi. The court then sent Minu to Chattogram Central Jail.
Kulsumi on April 23 in 2019 filed an appeal petition with the HC in the case. And a bail petition was also filed later and the HC dropped the petition on February 11 in 2021.
Senior jail superintendent of Chattogram Central Jail on March 21 this year sent a letter to the additional metropolitan sessions judge’s court-4 of Chattogram informing that the detainee who is languishing in jail in the case is not the real one.
The detained accused was produced before the court on the following day and in a confessional statement she claimed herself as Minu Akter and informed the court that she doesn’t know Kulsumi, the real accused. One Morzina hired her to surrender in the court on a promise to give regular financial support to her family members.
The jail officials also found discrepancy between the face of Minu and the photograph of the custodian accused. Then they sent a note to the HC for including it with the appeal documents of the case. This incident was published in different newspapers.
