Law-&-Order
Cartoonist Kishore to file no-confidence petition against PBI report
A Dhaka court has allowed cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore to file a no-confidence petition against Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) report which found no evidence that he was picked up by some people and suffered physical and mental torture in May last year.
Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge KM Emrul Kayesh on Wednesday granted Kishore’s petition and set February 23 for filing the no-confidence appeal, confirmed Additional Public Prosecutor Taposh Kumar Pal of Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court.
Read: No evidence of torture on cartoonist Kishore found: PBI
Earlier on October 17, Investigation Officer of the case and superintendent of police of PBI Mohammad Mizanur Rahman submitted a report saying that there was no evidence of his abduction and torture on him.
According to the PBI report, Kishore's allegations of torture against 16-17 unnamed people were not primarily proved.
On March 20, a three-member medical board of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) submitted a report to the court saying that they did not find any sign of torture on Kishore's body.
The medical board comprised Prof Sheikh Nurul Fattah Rumi of ENT, Prof Fakhrul Amin Khan of orthopaedics and Prof Mohammad Hafiz Sardar of medicine departments.
Read: Court accepts charges against cartoonist Kishore, 6 others
On March 10, Kishore filed a complaint before Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court against unnamed members of law enforcement agencies, alleging torture after being arrested in a case under the Digital Security Act.
Later on March 14, Judge KM Emrul Kayesh directed the director of Dhaka Medical College Hospital to form a three-member committee. He also directed the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to investigate the case.
Rab arrested Kishore from Lalmatia on May 5, 2020 on charges of spreading disinformation against the government on social media.
Writ seeking instruction on half fare on public transport for students
A writ petition has been filed before the High Court seeking its directions to allow students to travel by half-fare on bus, train and launch across the country.
Supreme Court lawyer Md Yunus Ali Akand filed the writ petition citing public interest on Wednesday.
Read: Demo for half fare: Protesters attacked, one ‘picked up’
In the petition, Yunus said that the income of the students' guardians has decreased due to Covid pandemic. The ongoing movement of students demanding half-fare travel is logical as the parents are struggling to pay education fees.
The writ said the government’s inaction half fare issue is a violation of fundamental rights of the student as per the Constitution. Instead of ensuring education, the government is violating the constitution by forcing students to protest on the streets.
Read: Demo for half bus fare: Students give 48-hour ultimatum
The secretaries of the home ministry, shipping ministry, railways ministry and ministry of road transport and bridges and the Inspector General of Police have been named as defendants in the petition.
Earlier on November 22, the lawyer had given a legal notice to the authorities concerned. Writ was filed after failing to get any reply to the notice.
The HC may hold hearing on this petition on Sunday, the petitioner said.
Cumilla councillor's murder: One held, 21 booked, say police
Law enforcement agencies have apprehended one of the 21 accused in the murder of local councillor Syed Mohammad Sohel.
Sumon, the accused, was picked up by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from the city's Kuchaitoli area on Tuesday night. He was later handed over to the police, said Faruk Ahmed, superintendent of Cumilla Police.
"Sumon, whose name figures in the FIR (First Information Report) filed in the case, was detained by RAB during a raid. Efforts are on to nab the other accused," Faruk told reporters after visiting the slain councillor's house around noon on Wednesday.
Read: Awami League activist shot dead in Bandarban
The late councillor's family members, however, demanded immediate arrest of all the accused in the case.
Sohel, Cumilla City Corporation (CCC) councillor of Ward-17, and one of his aides were shot dead while four others sustained injuries when gunmen opened fire at his office in the Pathuariapara area on Monday.
Read: DU's 'Gha’ unit results out, pass rate 9.87%
Based on his younger brother Syed Rumon's complaint, as many as 21 people, some 10 of them unidentified, were booked by the Kotwali police.
SC upholds top fugitive militant Salehin’s death penalty
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the death penalty of Salauddin Salehin, a dreaded militant from the banned JMB, who was convicted in the 2004 killing of Goni Gomez of Jamalpur.
A five-member bench of the Appellate Division, led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order after hearing a petition.
Read: BTRC must inform HC of steps taken to improve telco and IT services for consumers
Salehin has been a fugitive since 2015 when his militant abducted him from a prison van carrying him to Mymensingh jail after a gun attack in Trishal upazila.
The court did not consider the appeal of Rakib, another death-row convict in the case, as he already died.
Deputy Attorney General Biswajit Debnath represented the state.
In 2006, Dhaka Speedy Trial Tribunal sentenced Salehin and Rakib to death in the case and later the High Court (HC) upheld sentence rejecting their appeal.
Rejected by the HC the two appealed the death sentence before the Supreme Court.
Read: HC summons judge’s explanation on granting bail to Regency hotel directors
Additional Attorney General Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury said Goni Gomez, owner of a pharmacy, who had converted to Christian from Muslim, was killed by the JMB men.
Rakib, another accused in the case, was killed in a gunfight with police in 2015.
HC directs rapid action against elephant-killing
The High Court on Monday directed the government authorities to take prompt action against elephant killings in the country.
The court also issued a rule and directed the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to spread awareness on preventing elephant killings.
HC bench of justice Md Mostafizur Rahman and M Enayetur Rahim passed the order during a hearing on a writ petition seeking directions to stop elephant killing across the country.
The court issued a rule questioning why direction will not be given to publish a gazette announcing 12 elephant corridors as conserved following the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012.
Also read: Another elephant calf found dead in Cox’s Bazar
The court also questioned why inaction against preventing elephant killing by the respondents mentioned in the petition will not be announced illegal.
On November 21, three wildlife activist including Adnan Azad, Farzana Yasmin filed a writ petition seeking direction on steps for ending elephant killing in Cox’s bazar, Chattogram and other areas in the country.
In the petition 21 including the environment secretary, information secretary, director general of the forest department, district commissioners of Chattogram and Cox’s bazar were made respondents.
Also read: Case against 4 in Sherpur over killing Asian elephant
Earlier on November 9, Forest Department filed a Prosecution Offense Report case with Chattogram forest court against three people over killing a wild elephant in Satkania.
HC issues contempt of court rule against DoE DG, 3 others
The High Court on Sunday issued a contempt of court rule against four people, including the director general (DG) of Department of Environment (DoE) as they failed to submit a report on action taken against people occupying river banks and polluting the Bongshi River.
The other three accused are: the deputy commissioner of Dhaka, assistant commissioner (land) of Savar and officer in-charge of Savar Police Station.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman issued the rule and asked the four accused to respond to the rule.
Lawyer Mohammad Bakir Hossain Mridha appeared in the court for the writ petition while Deputy Attorney General Bipul Bagmar appeared for the state.
Read: HC seeks list of all the rivers and illegal occupiers from government
On December 2, 2019, following a writ petition, the High Court issued a rule along with an order, asking Bangladesh Water Development Board, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), DoE DG, Dhaka Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of Dhaka district police, Savar upazila nirbahi officer, Savar AC (Land) and officer in-charge of Savar Police Station to submit the report within 30 days.
At the same time, a rule was issued asking why the inaction of the defendants in preventing occupation by filling up the Bongshi River banks should not be declared as 'illegal and out of legal authority'. The rule also asked why the construction work should not be stopped by filling the river banks with soil.
On October 28 the same year, a report on encroachment of the Bongshi River banks and pollution of the river was published in a national daily. The report said 65 individuals and organizations occupied the river in Savar.
Later, Barrister Md Bakir Hossain, a local resident of Savar, filed a writ petition with the High Court attaching the newspaper report.
However, no action was taken in this regard by the authorities concerned.
HC allows two girls to stay with Bangladeshi father in custodial battle with Japanese mother
The High Court on Sunday ruled that the two children of Bangladeshi-born US citizen Imran Sharif and Japanese mother Nakano Erico will stay with their father.
Mother Eriko can exclusively meet the daughters, aged 11 and 10, three times a year for 10 days at a time and Imran will bear her travel and accommodation expenses, said the court.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman delivered the ruling until a writ petition by the mother is fully disposed.
If Eriko wants to meet her children beyond the court-prescribed time she has do it at her own expenses, the court said.
Imran Sharif was also instructed to allow the children to talk to their mother in video calls twice a month on holidays.
Read: HC directs lawyers to settle custody dispute over Japanese children in 12 days
Following the writ petition, the High Court also ordered Imran Sharif to give Tk 10 lakh to Eriko for the expenses she incurred to travel to Dhaka and stay here within seven days.
HC seeks list of all the rivers and illegal occupiers from government
The High Court on Sunday directed the government authorities to submit a proper list of the country's rivers and division-wise list of illegal occupiers.
The court asked the finance secretary, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), Water Development Board (WDB) and all the district commissioners to submit the lists within six months.
The HC bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Mia and Md Kamrul Hossain Molla passed the order during a hearing on a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA).
Lawyer Syeda Rizwana Hasan represented BElA at the hearing while Deputy Attorney General Nowroz Md Rasel Chowdhury appeared for the state.
Read: 20-year masterplan to revive Dhaka's rivers in the works
Syeda Rizwana said there is an inconsistency regarding the number of rivers in Bangladesh.
“Even after the court passed many directions the river areas are determined wrongly which actually facilitates the illegal grabbing. At some places the action to evict occupiers is going on but not in all," she said.
According to the petition, WDB data says there are 405 rivers in Bangladesh while National River Conservation Commission (NRCC) mentions 707 and a private research says 1,182.
As the number of rivers remained undetermined, so did the number of illegal occupiers, it said.
NRCC data shows there are 57, 390 listed illegal occupiers while reports in national dailies exceed it.
Read: 60 illegal establishments evicted from Kirtankhola river banks
Recently the state minister for the shipping ministry told the Parliament there are 65, 127 river occupiers in the country.
BELA filed the writ in view of the discrepancy, Rizwana said.
Munia Murder Case: PBI probe report submission deferred again to Dec 8
A Dhaka court on Sunday allowed Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) an extended time until December 8 to submit its investigation report on Bashundhara Group MD Sayem Sobhan Anvir and seven others accused in a case over the rape and murder of college student Mosarat Jahan Munia.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Begum Yasmin Ara set the new deadline of December 8 after PBI failed to submit the report today (Sunday), as it was earlier asked by the same court.
This was the second time PBI investigation officer (IO) of the case Golam Muktar Ashraf Uddin, also an inspector of the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), failed to submit the report after the first failure on November 2.
Also read: HC rejects Bashundhara MD’s anticipatory bail plea over Munia death case
On April 26, police recovered the body of the 21-year-old Munia hanging from a ceiling fan of her bedroom in a Gulshan flat.
Munia's elder sister, Nusrat Jahan Tania, filed a case against Anvir that night accusing him of incitement to suicide.
According to Tania, her sister, Munia, was in a relationship with Anvir who regularly visited her at the Gulshan apartment.
On July 19, the investigation officer of the case Abul Hasan, also the officer-in-charge of Gulshan Police Station, submitted a final report to the court giving a clean chit to Anvir.
On September 6, Munia's sister filed new rape and murder case against the Bashundhara Group MD and seven others with Dhaka's 8th Tribunal for Prevention of Women and Children's Repression.
Also read: Munia Murder Case: IO summoned Sunday to explain inaction
The court, after recording the complaint, directed the PBI to submit a report on it.
The seven other accused in the case are: Anvir’s parents Bashundhara Group's Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan Shah Alam and Afroza Begum, Anvir's wife Sabrina Sayem and model Faria Mahbub Piyasha, friend Saifa Rahman Mim and owner of the flat Ibrahim Ahmed Ripon and his wife Sharmim Akhter.
One gets death penalty, 3 life term for murder in Narail
A Narail court on Sunday sentenced a man to death and three others to life imprisonment for killing a man over land dispute in 2014.
The condemned convict is Alamgir Bhuiyan, 50, while the lifers are- Alamgir’s father Sayen Uddin Bhuiyan, his brothers Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan, 55, and Jungu Bhuiyan of Kalinagar village of Narail.
Read: Rangpur school teacher gets life term for raping student
District and Sessions Judge Munshi Md Moshiar Rahman handed down the verdict. The court also fined Alamgir Tk 50,000.
All the accused except Jangu Bhuiyan were present on the dock when the verdict was announced.
Read: 10 get life terms for killing youth in Pabna
According to the case statement, the convicts had a land-related dispute with Rabiul Islam Bhuiyan, the plaintiff in the case, in Kalinagar village of Naragati in Narail.
Later, an arbitration meeting was held between the two sides on January 18, 2014. On the same day, the plaintiff's brother Firoz Bhuiyan was stabbed to death at Kalingar Bazar area.