HC orders to stop fake warrants
The High Court (HC) has ordered police to verify the veracity of any arrest warrant against their central data management system before executing it, in a bid to rein apprehensions and harassment through fake warrants.
The court also directed the inspector general of police (IGP) to issue a circular referencing the order and send it to all law-enforcing agencies.
The High Court bench of Justice KM Hafizul Alam and Justice Murad A Mowla Sohel delivered the verdict on Monday, disposing of a rule after final hearings on a writ petition.
The verdict also instructed the Supreme Court’s registrar general to send directions to judges across all lower courts, including district judges, metropolitan judges, chief judicial magistrates and chief metropolitan magistrates.
These courts must ensure that a copy of the plaintiff’s national identity card (NID) and the lawyer’s professional card are attached to any complaint case filed, in order to verify the identity of both the plaintiff and the lawyer.
The court said any arrest of a citizen must follow the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, warning that failing to do so would constitute a breach of the law.
An arrest carried out through a fake warrant violates a citizen’s fundamental and constitutional rights, the verdict said, adding that preventing this falls squarely on all law-enforcing agencies.
The court stressed that greater caution is needed when filing cases and making arrests so people are not harassed through the legal system, as the resulting harm to citizens cannot be undone.
Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) filed the writ petition in the public interest after several media reports surfaced on arrests and harassment carried out against political opponents through fake arrest warrants.
The petition named eight respondents, including the home secretary, the IGP, the Rapid Action Battalion’s (RAB) director general, the Chattogram range’s deputy inspector general, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner and the Gulshan Police chief.
Following the hearing, the High Court issued a rule on Jan 30, 2013, and ordered the Gulshan Police chief to submit a report on the arrest of a man named Arif Niazi.
Senior lawyer Manzill Murshid appeared for HRPB, while Deputy Attorney General JR Khan Robin represented the state.
He told bdnews24.com that Arif was arrested at his Gulshan residence in 2012 based on a fake arrest warrant and produced before court.
He later learned that both the case and the warrant against him were fabricated. A writ petition followed.
An investigation committee formed on the court’s directive also confirmed in its report that both the case and the warrant were fake.
The court delivered its verdict on Monday after hearing arguments from both sides.
Influential individuals are using fake warrants to settle personal scores and harass citizens in various ways, lawyer Murshid said.
Deputy Attorney Robin opposed the rule in court, arguing that a central data system had already been introduced, making arrests through fake warrants no longer possible.
He also claimed the writ offered no scope for remedy, since the aggrieved party had not filed a case of his own.
