Staff Reporter :
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed for eight weeks a part of the High Court verdict that directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to pay 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.
The Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Md Nuruzzaman passed the order following a petition filed by the state challenging the HC order.
The IGP will file a leave to appeal petition with the apex court challenging the HC verdict after receiving its (HC verdict) full text of verdict, Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta told the reporters.
He said the IGP office recently submitted the petition to the Appellate Division saying that the HC has ordered the IGP to give Tk 20 lakh to Arman without assessing the damage.
Besides, departmental action has been taken against the police officers who are responsible for wrongly arresting and keeping Arman in jail and therefore, the IGP is not liable for giving any compensation, DAG Amit Das said citing the IGP’s petition.
Following a writ petition filed by Law and Life Foundation, a rights organization, the HC on December 31 last year, declared the arrest and detention of Arman illegal and contradictory to his fundamental and human rights, and asked the authorities concerned to immediately release him from Dhaka central jail.
While delivering the verdict on a writ petition, the HC ordered the IGP and Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police to withdraw four police officers, who were discharging duties under Pallabi Police Station when Arman was arrested, from their workplaces and to attach them to police lines.
The four police officers are Dadan Fakir, now Inspector under DMP; Md Nazrul Islam, now Court Inspector under DMP; Md Sirajul Islam, now Inspector at Sports and Culture Department under the Police Headquarters; and Md Russell, now Sub-Inspector of Mirpur Model Police Station, court sources said.
The IGP and DMP Commissioner have been asked to submit separate reports to the HC by February 14 after complying with the directives.
The HC also ordered the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to conduct an enquiry into the incident. It also asked the PBI to submit the probe report to the court by April 11, said Deputy Attorney General Nawroz Mohammad Russel Chowdhury.
The HC bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim came up with the verdict following a writ petition filed by rights organization Law and Life Foundation, seeking necessary order.
Petitioner’s lawyer Barrister Humayun Kabir Pallab told the reporters that the police reportedly arrested Arman in a drug case in January 2016 instead of original accused Shahabuddin Bihari. Both their fathers’ names are Md Yeasin.
Police arrested Md Arman on January 27 in 2016 instead of original accused Shahabuddin Bihari who had gone on run after being convicted for 10 years imprisonment in a drug case. Both their fathers’ names are Md Yeasin.
