Jail
Undertrial female prisoner dies in Chandpur
A 41-year-old undertrial inmate in the Chandpur district jail has died after she complained of having breathing difficulty, police said on Friday.
Umme Hasina, who had also been down with fever for the past few days, was rushed to District Sadar Hospital after her condition worsened on Thursday noon. Both fever and breathing problems are symptoms of Covid.
Resident doctor of the hospital Sujauddula Rubel said the female inmate was brought to the hospital around 1.30 pm in a critical condition. "She breathed her last in the emergency department during treatment."
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Hasina had been lodged in the district jail for the past 14 months after being arrested in connection with two cases filed against her, police said.
Officer-in-Charge of Sadar model police station said that a case of unnatural death has been filed and the inmate's body was handed over to her family members.
According to the district jailor’s office, some 741 inmates -- convicts and undertrials -- are currently lodged in the Chandpur district jail. Of them, 26 are women inmates.
Also read: Wrongly jailed woman released after 3 years, only to die in a road crash
Despite an alarming surge of Covid-19 cases in the district in recent months, the inmates of the jail hardly underwent any health check-ups, said sources.
HC orders to release woman serving jail for another woman for money
The High Court on Monday ordered the release of Minu Akter who has been in prison for three years serving a life term on behalf of real convict Kulsum Akter for money.
The high court passed the order to Chattogram fourth additional metropolitan session court to free Minu Akter, subject to its satisfaction.
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Minu impersonated as Kulsum who was sentenced to life in prison for killing a female garment worker in Chittagong in 2006.
The bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim passed the order during a virtual hearing.
The court also ordered to take necessary steps to arrest Kulsum.
Besides, the court ordered special public prosecutor of Chattogram Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-2 MA Naser and junior lawyer Nurul Anwar and Bibekananda Chowdhury and clerk Showrabh to submit written explanation about their role in the fraudulent act within two weeks.
The court has also ordered the four to appear before the court on June 28, the next date of hearing on this case.
Advocate Md Shishir Munir stood for Minu during the hearing while Attorney General AM Amin Uddin and Deputy Attorney General Dr Bashir Ullah presented the state side.
Advocate Iqbal Hossain presented the appeal submitted to the High Court against Kulsum’s life term.
How Minu ended up in Jail:
October 26 in 2007 Kulsum was arrested in a case filed over a garment worker’s murder in 2006.
Two years later she was freed after being granted bail by a Chattogram court.
On November 30, 2017 Chattogram fourth additional metropolitan session court found Kulsum guilty and sentenced her to life term and ordered to pay a fine of TK 50,000 after completing the trial. Failure to pay the fine the convict was to spend an additional one year in jail.
On June 12 in 2018 Minu, pretending to be Kulsum, surrendered to police and began spending time behind bars. According to case proceedings she did it for money.
In 2019 advocate Iqbal Hossain filed a petition on the sentence passed by lower court on behalf of Minu pretending to be Kulsum.
Following which the case document was sent to the High Court on June 12 the same year.
On March 18 this year, senior jail super of Chattogram central jail Md. Safiqul Islam Khan noticedthe issue of fraudulence and brought the matter to Chattogram court’s notice.
Following the court’s order Minu was brought before court on March 22.
In the court Minu said, “three years back a woman named Morzina promising to give some rice sent me to jail and said after Ramadan she will bring me out.”
“Now I want to be out of the jail,’ she said.
Later sub-document of the case was sent to the high court and advocate Shishir Munir presented it before court.
The accused of the case Kulsum was a housewife living in Rahmatganj under Kotwali police station with his husband.
Minu used to live in a slum in the city with her three children before ending up in jail as Kulsum.
Two top Bengal Ministers sent to jail in cash-for-favours scam
Call it a twist of fate. The High Court in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata on Monday night stayed the bail of two top ministers in the West Bengal government and two other politicians in a high-profile cash-for-favours scam.
The four politicians -- serving ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, and former ministers Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee -- were granted bail by a special court in the evening, more than seven hours after they were arrested by the country's top federal investigative agency for their alleged role in the Narada tapes scandal.
"But the High Court stayed the bail of the four politicians after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenged the order of the special court. Firhad, Subrata, Madan and Sovan have been sent to jail custody. The court will hear the case on Wednesday," lawyer Sushanto Roy said.
"The CBI has also demanded that the trial in the case be transferred to another state," he told UNB over the phone from Kolkata.
Earlier in the day, high drama unfolded in Kolkata as Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee staged a five-hour dharna outside the CBI office in protest against the "illegal" arrest of her two senior ministers for their alleged role in the Narada tapes scandal.
She also dared the CBI slueths to arrest her in the case as hundreds of her supporters thronged the federal probe agency's office and threw stones at the central security forces guarding the premises.
"The way they have been arrested without due procedure, the CBI will have to arrest me also," she said, indicating that the state assembly speaker didn't give his mandatory consent to the arrest of the two Ministers.
In fact, all the four accused were picked up by the CBI and the federal security forces from their houses in the morning.
While Firhad and Subrata are Urban Development and Panchayati Raj Ministers, respectively, Madan is a legislator of Mamata's ruling Trinamool Congress party. Sovan, on the other hand, is Kolkata's former Mayor. He left the Trinamool in 2019 to join India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, but quit the outfit before the assembly polls.
The two serving and two former Ministers were arrested barely 10 days after Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar approved the CBI's plea to prosecute the four accused in the Narada tapes scandal.
Also read: Two top Bengal Ministers get bail in cash-for-favours scam
The Governor then claimed that his approval "is more than enough" for the arrest of the accused as he had presided over their swearing-in ceremony. "Governor accorded sanction for prosecution... being the appointing authority of ministers @MamataOfficial under article 164 and thus competent authority," he tweeted on May 9.
The Narada scandal was a sting operation carried out by a journalist that caught on tape several ministers and senior officials of the erstwhile Mamata government accepting cash bribes in exchange for doling out unofficial favours to a private firm looking to set up business in Bengal.
Earlier this month, Mamata scripted history by single handedly pulling off an astounding victory in the assembly election. She not only defied anti-incumbency and staved off a huge challenge from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling BJP, but also decimated the Left Front.
Though her party swept back to power with a resounding majority of 213 seats in the 292-member assembly, the 66-year-old lost her own seat in Nandigram to her former protege-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari by a thin margin of around 2,000 votes.
"This is Bangla's win... this is Bengal's win... this is your win. This win has saved Bengal, it has saved the culture and tradition of Bengal," she said, addressing a press meet on the counting day. Mamata had, however, made it clear in that presser only that she would challenge the result in a court of law. "How come the Election Commission reversed the results in Nandigram after formally announcing it? We will move court."
The BJP though has made major gains in Bengal, winning some 77 seats. In 2016, the party had just three legislators in the state. However, the Left Front has failed to grab a single seat this time. The Left Front ruled Bengal for 34 years -- from 1977 to 2011.
Bengal witnessed the most high-profile contest in India's recently held state elections. While Mamata harped on being Bengal’s daughter, the BJP asked people to vote for "change and socio-economic development" after 50 years of Communist and Trinamool Congress rule.
Chattogram woman in lock-up for 18 months for no crime!
How many people are there in Bangladesh with the same name? Maybe uncountable! But Hasina Begum is now in deep trouble for not having a unique name.
Hasina Begum has been languishing in the prison here for the last one and a half years just because her first name is similar to an accused.
Hasina Begum, wife of Hamid Hossain of Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar district, has been serving the jail term instead of the real convict in a narcotic case as law enforcers arrested her wrongly for the similarity of her name to the convict’s.
The incident came in the limelight on Sunday as defence lawyer Golam Mawla Murad drew the attention of the Judge of Chattogram Additional Metropolitan and Session Court -4, Shariful Alam Bhuiya, following a police investigation.
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However, the court asked the jail authorities to submit a report by May 4 about the similarity and dissimilarity in the names of the convict and the innocent woman.
Advocate Murad said, “No case was filed against Hasina Begum, now in jail. But for the last one and a half years she has been languishing in jail. Her only offence is the similarity of her name to that of the real accused. Their parents’ names are also different.”
Murad also filed a petition seeking the immediate release of innocent Hasina Begum and the court took cognisance of the plea and asked the jail super to submit a report in this regard by May 4.
Hasina Begum, now in the lock-up, is the wife of Hamid Hossain of Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar district while the real convict, Hasina Akther, is the wife of Hamid Hossain of Ismail Hazi Bari of the same upazila.
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According to the court, police recovered 2,000 Yaba pills from Moijjartek in Karnaphuli on February 24, 2017. A case was filed in this connection.
Later, police arrested Hasina Akhter on February 25, 2017 in this connection. On November 27, Hasina Akhter secured bail from the court and went into hiding.
On July 1, 2019, Judge of Chattogram Metropolitan Court-5 Jannatul Ferdous sentenced six years’ jail to Hasina Akhter and fined Tk 5,000.
On December 26, 2019, police wrongly arrested Hasina Begum from Chowdhurypara Hossain Boro Bari in Teknaf in the case and she has been in jail since then.
Mohammad Khorshed Alam, inspector (operation) of Teknaf Model Police Station, said they primarily suspected that Hasina, now in jail, is not the real convict but could not investigate properly as the victim’s husband is on the run.
Chattogram Central Jail authorities said real convict Hasina Akhter served jail for nine months. Besides, the images of the convict and the victim are different.
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