Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Thursday ordered the authorities concerned of the government to import proper training to the Executive Magistrates across the country so that they can get a clear idea of when and how the powers of the mobile court should be exercised.
The HC Bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim asked Attorney General AM Amin Uddin to talk to the cabinet division secretary for taking necessary steps in this regard.
“I have noticed it in newspaper reports that some Executive Magistrates conducted
mobile courts for punishing offenders few days after the crimes were committed which is not allowed in the relevant law. The mobile court must hold the trial of the offence on the spot,” Justice M Enayetur Rahim said.
The offence committed by the minors has to be tried by the children court, the HC bench said while hearing a petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir challenging the legality of a mobile court.
Recently a mobile court run by Sultana Razia, Executive Magistrate of Atpara upazila in Netrakona, had sentenced two minors to one month’s imprisonment for getting married before legal age.
The High Court bench also asked the authorities concerned to submit a copy of the explanation from Executive Magistrate Sultana Razia about her action to this court.
Additional district magistrate of Netrokona has issued a show cause notice on Executive Magistrate Sultana Razia. The explanation which she will give in response to this notice should be submitted to the High Court by August 26.
During the hearing lawyer Shishir Manir told the HC that he talked to the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Netrokona last night (Wednesday night) over cell phone and the DC has informed that the two minors who were jailed by the mobile court have been released from law enforcers’ custody.
He said the district administration has sought explanation from Sultana Razia over the conviction.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told the HC that he would communicate with the cabinet division secretary for imparting training to the Executive Magistrates for running the mobile courts properly.
Sultana Razia sentenced the two adolescents in custody for a month in her office on last Sunday as they got marriage without proper age.
When the news was published in the media, Supreme Court lawyer Mohammad Shishir Manir brought it to the notice of the court on Wednesday. His application raised questions about the jurisdiction of the mobile court to punish the children, as well as prayed for the immediate release of the two convicted children.
In that afternoon, Justice M Enayetur Rahim ordered to release the two children. Mohammad Saifur Rahman, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court and a Special Officer in the High Court Division, told that the Netrokona district administration had already released the two children considering an appeal petition.
