Judiciary to be blamed for its faith in police and not in one`s innocence

THE High Court on Wednesday set a 43-year man free on bail as he was languishing in the jail for last 16 years without trial. A Bench of the court comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice JBM Hassan in a suo moto order put him on temporary bail asking the trial court to finish his case in 60 working days. The order said the trial court must settle the case within the stipulated time on the basis of existing evidence and documents if the prosecution cannot produce any witness. The Bench has also ordered the District Magistrate and Social Welfare Officer of Dhaka to rehabilitate the man named Shipon on his application if he does not get any shelter after release from the jail. It is a great judgement with great human compassion.

It appears that the man was left abandoned in the jail as family members never came to enquire about him. He was arrested in 2000 on a murder case in the old city with some other accused persons and no lawyer appeared before the court for him in the long period of his detention without trial.

We find it a serious flaw in the system how it works. A person accused of murder along with others cannot remain without trial. The court provides a lawyer if one cannot afford. How he was left to suffer in jail needs to be investigated seriously. The Chief Justice must do it to show that justice does not mean lives have no value.
The man was victim of gross injustice and their lordships have rightly said that the state and the judiciary are responsible for ensuring justice quickly in line with the Constitution. But they failed to do so in the case of Shipon and that’s a shame for them and obviously for the nation.

Earlier in the day, the authorities of Kashimpur jail produced Shipon before the Bench following an earlier HC order. Shipon is now homeless and don’t know where he will go after the release. He also told the court that he was not involved in the murder; which he heard but was falsely implicated that cost him so many prime years of his life. In fact such victimization by police and lower judiciary is a common phenomenon causing helpless people to endlessly suffering.
 
We must say the Shipon case is not the only case of miscarriage of justice, it exposed the inhuman side of our justice system. There may be many more people languishing in jail for lack of money to put a lawyer to take the cases or for lack of accesses to such other remedial steps to take their cases for hearing.

We are unhappy, the way the judiciary has failed to take the case seriously considering the importance of one’s constitutional liberty. This is not justice for the court, in the midst of police power abused politically to believe everything police say, forgetting that a person is innocent before a court finds so.

Our judges need to change their mind-set of accepting police with all trust and the fact that a person is innocent constitutionally before a court finds him guilty. Please do not deny bail to show faith in the police.