Gulam Rabbani :
Imprisonment of the people without their offence has been increasing day by day. No one has accurate statistics as to how many people have been imprisoned so far in this way, though reports of innocent people jailed are being published regularly in different media.
Matching of name, unintentional or intentional mistakes in investigations, false testimony or delay in the judicial process are the main reasons of such incidents. Some of the innocent prisoners have already been released from jail after the High Court directives.
Senior jurist Khandker Mahbub Hossain blames irresponsible behaviors of the law enforcement agencies for such detention of the innocent people. He said, “The law enforcement agencies are arresting people without any sort of verification in many cases. Imprisoning someone in such a way is a violation of human rights and a punishable offence.”
However, though the High Court directed the respondents to compensate the wrongfully detained persons, no one of the victims has received any compensation money yet. The concerned respondents filed appeal petitions recently against two High Court orders which asked the parties to pay compensation.
Minu Akter who had been languishing jail for three years in a murder case of Chattogram instead of a real accused, Kulsum Akter alias Kulsumi, released from jail recently following a High Court order passed on June 7 this year by Justice Jahangir Hossain and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim.
According to the case documents, a Chattogram court in 2017 sentenced Kulsumi for life term imprisonment and fined her in a murder case filed with Chattogram Kotwali police station in 2006. But Kulsumi was not present during the judgement delivered in 2017.
Later Minu Akter was hired and produced in the court for surrender in the 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 High Court in the case. And a bail petition was also filed later and the High Court 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 jail in the case is not the real accused.
The detained accused was produced in 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.
Later the jail officials also found the discrepancy between the face of Minu and the photograph of the custodian accused. Then they sent a note to the High Court for including it with the appeal documents of the case. This incident was published in different newspapers later.
Md Arman, another such victim, released from jail following a High Court order passed on December 31 in 2020. The court in its order directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to give Tk 20 lakh as compensation to Md Arman, a technician at Benarasi Palli in Mirpur, in 30 days as police personnel have wrongly arrested him and kept him in jail for around five years instead of the original accused in a drug case.
Though Arman has been released from jail he has not received the compensation determined by the court. Barrister Humaun Kabir Pallob, a Supreme Court lawyer who appeared in the court for Arman, said the IGP has filed appeal petition against the compensation order which is pending before the Appellate Division.
The High Court directed to take departmental proceedings against the police officials who was responsible for the wrongful detention of Arman. But the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) did not take any departmental proceedings against the officials though they had identified that the negligence of seven police personnel was responsible for Arman’s wrongful detention.
In another order the High Court asked the BRAC Bank to pay Tk 15 lakh to Jahlam, a jute mills worker who languished in jail for three years instead of a real accused, as compensation. The court order passed on September 30 last year asked the bank to pay the money within one month after receiving the court order as two officials of the bank wrongfully indentified Jahlam instead of Abu Salek, who is the actual accused.
Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta who appeared in the court on behalf of Jahlam said his client did not get the compensation money yet as the full text of the verdict is yet to publish. Besides, the officials concerned of the BRAC Bank has filed appeal petition against the High Court order which is now pending before the Appellate Division.
