law-order
SC forms 5-member committee to prevent sexual harassment
The Supreme Court has formed a five-member committee to receive complaints of sexual harassment, investigate those and make necessary recommendations.
Justice Krishna Debnath, a High Court judge, has been made the chairman of the committee.
Other members of the committee are- High Court division judge Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque, Md Badrul Alam Bhuiyan, Registrar of the Appellate Division, Advocate Fawzia Karim and Assistant Attorney General Advocate Tamanna Ferdous.
Read: ASK seeks implementation of HC guideline on preventing sexual harassment
The committee has been formed following a High Court order issued in 2009, said a statement issued by Md Ali Akbar, Registrar of the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
On August 7, 2008, a writ petition was filed with the High Court seeking its directive to prevent sexual harassment of women and children at workplaces and educational institutions.
Following the writ petition, the HC on May 14, 2009, issued an order to form a committee to prevent sexual harassment of women, girls and children in all institutions, including educational institutions, government and non-government organizations and media houses in the country.
New bench to hear death references for convicts in Ramna Batamul bombing case
The High Court has dropped the death references, appeals and jail appeals of the convicts in the Ramna Batamul bombing case from its daily cause list for procedural purposes.
A special bench of Justice Krishna Debnath and Justice ASM Abdul Mobin sat for the purpose on Monday
During this time Deputy Attorney General Shaheen Ahmed Khan represented the state and advocate Shishir Monir stood on behalf of the convicts.
Deputy Attorney General Shaheen Ahmed Khan said, "The hearing was taking place before the bench of Justice Krishna Debnath and Justice ASM Abdul Mobin. But at present this bench no longer exists, and a new bench has been formed comprising Justice Krishna Debnath and Justice KM Zahid Sarwar Kajal. For this reason, Justice Krishna Debnath and Justice ASM Abdul Mobin sat in a special bench to delist it, so that the Chief Justice can now appoint a new bench for it.”
On April 14, 2001, during the Chhayanat’s Bengali New Year celebrations at Ramna Batamul, a bomb blast left nine people dead on the spot. Another died at the hospital later.
Two cases under the Murder and Explosives Act were filed at Ramna Police Station after the incident. Dhaka's Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge ruled on June 23, 2014 in a murder case involving the bomb attack.
Eight people including Mufti Hannan, the top leader of Harkatul Jihad (Huji) were sentenced to death and six to life imprisonment. However, Mufti Hannan has already been hanged in a conviction over another grenade attack in Sylhet.
The death references and appeals of the convicts are currently awaiting hearing in the High Court.
Casino crackdown: Appellate Division cancels Joy Gopal’s bail order
The Appellate Division on Tuesday cancelled the bail granted by the High Court to Dhaka Wanderers Club general secretary Joy Gopal Sarker in four cases filed for his alleged involvement in illegal casino business.
A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order and directed to settle the cases within a year.
During the hearing, the Appellate Division said there is no scope to consider money laundering lightly as money laundering is increasing nowadays.
Advocate Md Khurshid Alam Khan stood for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) while Additional Attorney General Sheikh Mohammad Morshed and Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik represented the state.
On the other hand, Advocate Momtaz Uddin Fakir appeared for Joy Gopal.
On August 19, High Court Bench of Justice Md Najrul Islam Talukdar and SM Mojibur Rahman granted bail to the accused.
Read: Casino crackdown: Appellate Division stays Joy Gopal’s bail order
On August 23, the Appellate Division stayed for six weeks the bail granted by the High Court.
On July 14, 2019 Joy Gopal was arrested during a drive against casino business.
He was shown arrested in four separate cases filed with Gendaria, Sutrapur and Wari police stations later.
On July 22, 2020, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted the charge sheet of these cases.
According to the charge sheet, after his retirement as a footballer of the Wanderer’s Club, Joy Gopal became a member of the board of directors and later the cashier.
In 2014, he joined hands with AL leaders Enu, Rupom and became the general secretary of the club, getting involved in directing the casino club, said the charge sheet.
On September 18, 2019, a Rab-3 team conducted a drive at a casino inside Dhaka Wanderer’s Club where illegal drugs, fake currency, huge money and gambling materials were seized.
E-commerce fraud: Adyan Mart CEO, 2 others remanded
A Chuadanga court placed three people including Chief Executive Officer of e-commerce platform Adyan Mart on a 3-day remand in a fraud case.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Manik Chandra Dash passed the order and asked police to interrogate another accused at the jail gate considering his age.
On Saturday Rab members arrested Adyan Mart CEO Juabayer Siddque Manik, its director and his brother Mahmud Siddique Ratan, their father Abu Bakar Siddique and manager of the e-commerce platform Minarul Islam in the case filed by Atiqur Rahman Ujjal at Chuadanga sadar police station.
Read: 49 e-commerce platforms are blacklisted, refund of customers’ money in process: Commerce Ministry
Later, police produced the arrestees before the court and sought a 7-day remand for each for interrogation.
Investigation officer in the case Sub Inspector Gopal Chandra Mondol said the court put the three accused on a a 3-day remand after hearing on the petition submitted by police.
In February, 2020, controversial e-commerce platform Adyan Mart started their activities in Chuadanga by opening a big office at Mominpur.
Read: E-commerce firms must get registered within 2 months: Cabinet
The company used to attract customers with lucrative offers. They managed to get huge orders from across the country but they did not deliver their products in time.
The company closed their customer care and all other offices few months ago.
Major Mohammad Shariful Ahsan, Company Commander of Rab-6, said a customer Atiqur Rahman Ujjal lodged a complaint against Adyan mart for embezzling around Tk 18.52 lakh.
Munia Murder Case: Probe report submission deferred to Nov 21
A Dhaka court on Tuesday deferred to November 21 the submission date of the probe report in a case filed against Bashundhara Group MD Sayem Sobhan Anvir and seven others over the rape and murder of college student Mosarat Jahan Munia.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Begum Yasmin Ara refixed the date as investigating officer (IO) of the case Golam Muktar Ashraf Uddin, also an inspector of the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), failed to submit the report on the day, said Saifur Rahman, general registration officer (Women-Children) of Gulshan Police Station.
Read: Munia Murder Case: IO summoned Sunday to explain inaction
On April 26, police recovered the body of the 21-year-old college student 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 investigating 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 Tania filed a 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.
Read:HC rejects Bashundhara MD’s anticipatory bail plea over Munia death case
The court, after recording the complaint, directed the PBI to submit a report on it.
The seven other accused in the case are: Bashundhara Group's Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan Shah Alam, Shah Alam's wife Afroza Begum; Anvir's wife Sabrina Sayem; Faria Mahbub Piyasha; Saifa Rahman Mim; landlord of the flat where the victim was staying, Ibrahim Ahmed Ripon and his wife Sharmim Akhter.
HC wants to know steps over Rangpur custodial death
The High Court on Tuesday wanted to know the steps taken after the death of Tajul Islam allegedly after police torture at Haragach in Rangpur. The HC bench of Justice Mamnoon Rahman and Khandaker Diliruzzaman asked Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta to inform the court about the steps taken in this regard after consultation with the Rangpur police commissioner.
Read: Mob surrounds police station in Rangpur accusing cops of beating a person to death Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua presented a report on the incident published in a daily newspaper before the court and sought a necessary directive in this regard on Wednesday. DAG Amit Das Gupta said he will inform the court about the incident after consultation with the Rangpur police commissioner. Tajul Islam, 55, a resident of Dalalhat village in Haragach union, was reportedly beaten to death by police at Haragach Natun Bazar around 6 pm on Monday. Tajul was detained with some drugs during a police drive at Haragach Natun Bazar on Monday evening and he fell unconscious as police beat him up mercilessly. At one stage, police pushed him against a wall and he died on the spot.
Read: HC turns down writ seeking enactment of law for EC formation Enraged by the incident, locals cordoned off Haragach police station, threw brick chips at police and vandalized some vehicles. Police later fired rubber bullets and lobbed teargas shells to disperse the protesters.
BGB seizes smuggled goods, drugs worth Tk 80cr
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) seized smuggled goods, arms and drugs worth over Tk 80 crore in various drives across the country in October.
The seized narcotics include 12,86,951 Yaba pills, 1.75kg crystal meth ice, 22,398 bottles of phensedyl, 18,077 bottles of foreign liquor, 1,614 cans of beer, 1,496 kg of cannabis, 4.87 kg of heroin, 1,043 bottles of Cofidil and 38,373 Senegra tablets.
Als Read: BGB seizes 1500 grams of crystal meth in Teknaf
Around 4.66 gm of gold, 26.40 kg of silver, 151,674 pieces of cosmetics, 6,818 sarees, 5,580 readymade garments, 5,535 kg of tea leaves, 15,855 kg of coal, two trucks, six private cars/microbuses, 39 CNG/battery run auto-rickshaws and 75 motorcycles were also seized.
The arms and ammunition seized include four pistols, seven different types of guns, three magazines, 31 mortar shells and 26 rounds of bullet.
Also Read: Arms, valuables, drugs worth Tk 120 crore seized from Benapole in 2020
Legal action has been taken against 302 people for their involvement in smuggling. Some 131 Bangladeshis and three Indian citizens were arrested for illegal border crossing, BGB said.
SC directs to deduct custody time from total jail term given to convicts
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the time a prisoner spends in custody since arrest to judgment will be deducted from the period of imprisonment to which a convict is sentenced.
The Ministry of Home Affairs was directed to make necessary arrangements in this regard.
A bench of five justices led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order during a virtual hearing on the appeal challenging the High Court’s order of imprisonment for life to a convict named Younus Ali.
The court has ordered to send the order document to the home and law ministries and also directed to release Younus Ali after he served his jail term.
Also read: HC turns down writ seeking enactment of law for EC formation
Lawyer Golam Abbas Chowdhury Dulal appeared for Younus Ali while Deputy Attorney General Biswajit Debnath stood for the state.
Lawyer Golam Abbas Chowdhury Dulal said his client has already spent 26 years behind the bars though according to the order of appellate division and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) he should have been released by now.
Deputy Attorney General Biswajit Debnath said Younus Ali was given life sentence in a case from the lower court which was later upheld by the High Court.
According to section 35 A (1) of CrPC the time a convict passed in custody during the trial period of a case will be deducted from the sentence of imprisonment which was not mentioned in the sentence passed on the case of Younus Ali, said the deputy attorney general.
Earlier, in the case of Ataur Rahman Mridha versus the state, the appellate division said life imprisonment means rigorous imprisonment for 30 years and a convict will get 7.5 years’ remission facility according to law.
Also read: HC orders judicial probe into attacks on Hindus in 6 districts
In 2017, in a notification issued by the High Court it was said that if multiple criminal cases are under trial against an accused, the time he/she spent in jail custody will be deducted from the total sentence of imprisonment in each case verdict.
Though in most cases the direction is not implemented, said the DAG.
Counter-terrorism police arrest four alleged traders of illegal arms
Counter-terrorism police have arrested four people on charge of being involved in illegal arms trade and seized five firearms and 301 rounds of bullets from them in a raid in Sayedabad bus stand area in the city.
The arrests were made by Dhaka Metropolitan Police's (DMP) Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTC).
The arrestees have been identified as Md. Hossain, Lal Tan Pankhoa, Md. Ali Akbar and Md. Adilur Rahman Sujan.
Briefing reporters at the DMP media centre on Monday its Additional Commissioner, who is also chief of the CTTC, Md Asaduzzaman, said they got information that some people were staying in front of Shyamali Paribahan bus counter-6 located at 33/1 Janpath crossing of Sayedabad Bus Stand under Jatrabari Police Station to buy and sell illegal weapons.
Also Read:DGHS driver arrested on extortion, illegal arms charges
Based on the information, Anti-Illegal Arms and Canine Team of Special Action Group under the CTTC unit conducted the drive at around 6:50 pm on Sunday and arrested the four arms dealers along with the illegal arms and bullets, he said.
He said that Hossain and Lal Tan used to collect arms from various arms dealers, including Swapan of Dhaka and supply them to different places in Chattragram including various terrorist groups in Cox's Bazar area through Akbar and Adilur.
Lal Tan used to smuggle arms from Mizoram in India through Rangamati Barkal border and sell them in Dhaka and Cox's Bazar areas including the hilly areas of Bangladesh. At different times, he travelled with Hussein to different parts of the country to buy and sell illegal weapons, ther CTTC unit chief said.
He said that Akbar and Adilur Rahman were close associates of Hossain and they had been buying illegal weapons from Hossain for a long time to sell them to various terrorist groups and individuals.
Also Read: Smuggled firearms “from India” causing concern for Bangladesh law enforcers
A case under the Arms Act has been filed against the arrested persons at Jatrabari police station.
HC turns down writ seeking enactment of law for EC formation
The High Court on Sunday rejected a writ petition seeking its directive to enact a law for the formation of the Election Commission as per Article 118 (1) of the Constitution. A bench of Justice Md Mojibur Rahman Mia and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah turned down the petition. Advocate Md Yarul Islam appeared for the writ petitioner while Attorney General AM Amin Uddin represented the state.
Read: HC orders judicial probe into attacks on Hindus in 6 districts On October 13, the writ petition was filed with the High Court seeking its directive to enact a law for the formation of the Election Commission as per Article 118 (1) of the Constitution. The writ petition sought the suspension of all activities related to the formation of the Election Commission till the enactment of the law. The writ petition was filed by Advocate Md Yarul Islam, a lawyer of the Supreme Court and secretary general of Bangladesh Congress, a registered political party. The Law Secretary and the Chief Election Commissioner were made respondents to the writ. Advocate Md Yarul Islam said, "It’s possible to formulate a law to form the EC within a week if the government wants. Part VII of the Constitution states what would be the law for the formation of the Election Commission.”
Read:HC summons ACC assistant director over allegation of bribery On October 7, Law Minister Advocate Anisul Huq said the Election Commission will be constituted through a search committee. “It won’t be possible right now due to the Covid-19 pandemic as the tenure of the current EC will expire in February next,” he added.