‘If this goes on, we may be labelled uncivilised’
Staff Reporter :
Pointing to the incidents of keeping accused in bar fetters the High Court on Monday expressed its dismay saying that “if such incidents continue one after another, we may be known as uncivilized”.
The High Court bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Atabullah passed the remark after they have been noticed into the police action of keeping Md Nazmul Mridha, a Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) leader of Patuakhali, in bar fetters while he was attending his father’s namaz-e-janaza on Saturday.
Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Kayser Kamal placed a report published in a Bengali daily on January 14 on the incident of imposing bar fetters on Nazmul.
According to the news report, Nazmul, Joint Convener of Patuakhali’s Mirzaganj upazila JCD, was arrested on December 20 last year in connection with a case filed under the explosive substances act.
The court concerned ordered his release from jail on parole from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm on January 13 to attend his father’s janaza.
His father Md Motaleb Hossain Mridha died on the night of January 12 while he was receiving treatment in Barishal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital.
Police unlocked his handcuff but kept him in bar fetters during the janaza at Subid Ali village in Mirzaganj around 3:00 pm on January 13. After the janaza, the accused was taken back to prison, the report said.
Barrister Kayser Kamal on Monday placed the report before the HC bench and sought necessary directives on the issue on a Suo Motu (voluntary) move.
The bench asked the lawyer to move a petition before maintaining relevant legal procedures for order. Kayser Kamal said that he will file a writ petition with the HC seeking necessary order within this week.
Following a writ petition the same High Court bench on December 4 in 2023 questioned the legality of law enforcers’ action of keeping Jashore’s Jubo Dal leader Md Aminur Rahman Modhu in bar fetters while he was being treated at a Dhaka hospital.
The court issued a rule asking the authorities concerned of the government to explain as to why the law enforcers’ action should not be declared illegal.
At the same time, the HC ordered the government to shift Modhu to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) in 10 days for better treatment.
Aminur’s wife Nahid Sultana filed the writ petition seeking necessary directives on the matter.
