Law-&-Order
Hefazat violence in Brahmanbaria: DSA Case filed
RAM Ubaidul Moktadir, MP of Brahmanbaria-3 constituency, has filed a case against 19 named accused including Hefazat-e-Islam’s dissolved central committee joint secretary general Sajedur Rahman for allegedly tarnishing his personal image by holding a press conference after the violence in Brahmanbaria.
The case was filed Tuesday, under the Digital Security Act (DSA) with the court of Chattogram Cyber Tribunal Judge SKM Tofail Hasan.
Besides 19 named accused, hundred more unidentified persons were accused in this case.
Also read: People involved with Hefazat violence to be punished: Home Minister
MP Ubaidul said, "Leaders and activists of Hefazat-e-Islam carried out massive violence in Brahmanbaria for three days from March 26 to 28. On March 31, they held a press briefing putting all the blame on me to save themselves.”
Since journalists were not present at the press briefing they promoted the briefing videos over Facebook-YouTube.
Also read: Hefazat violence in Brahmanbaria: 60 held, two more cases filed
At this, his image was tarnished through the propaganda so MP Ubaidul appeared in person to file the case at Chattogram Cyber Tribunal, he said
The court has been requested to direct PBI to investigate the case, plaintiff's lawyer HM Ziauddin said.
Kafil Uddin murder: SC commutes death sentence of 3 convicts
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of three convicts to life term imprisonment over the killing of Awami League leader Kafil Uddin murder in Narayanganj.
The virtual bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order.
The three convicts are—Iqbal, Zakir Hossain and Joynal.
The court also set aside life term for another convict identified as Zaman.
Advocate Abdur Rezzak Khan, Mansurul Haque Chowdhury, Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, Abdul Wadud Bhuiya and Sarwar Ahmed stood for the petitioner while deputy attorney general Biswajit Debnath represented the state.
According to the prosecution, Kafil Uddin, a local Awami League leader was shot to death by some miscreants in front of Siddhirganj Sanarpar Market in Sadar upazila of Narayanganj district on December 16, 2003.
Ambia Khatun, wife of the AL leader lodged a complaint with Siddhirganj Police Station.
Police charged 16 people in the case.
On July 15, 2009, a court sentenced three people to death and 13 others to life term imprisonment.
The High Court also upheld the death penalty of the three death-row convicts.
ACC seeks wealth information of Mosharraf's private secretary
Anti- Corruption Commission ( ACC) on Tuesday sought the wealth information of Nur Khan, private secretary of former Housing and Public Works Minister and Awami League leader Engineer Md Mosharraf Hossain
Public relations officer of the commission Muhammad Arif Sadeq confirmed to UNB that the anti-graft body sent a notice on Tuesday.
A letter signed by the director ACC Mohammad Akter Hossain Azad was sent to his address.
According to the ACC notice, the commission has found evidence that the accused was amassing illegal wealth.
ACC has sought his and his family’s movable and immovable wealth information within 21 days. If he fails to submit or provide statement of the wealth information, then ACC will take the necessary action under ACC Act, Section 26 (2), according to the notice.
HC questions exclusion of SSC-2016 passed students from admission test
The High Court on Monday issued a rule questioning the legality of excluding students who passed SSC in 2016 from the cluster admission test of 20 general and science and technology universities.
A bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order after a preliminary hearing on a writ petition filed by 12 SSC students who passed in 2016.
Barrister Anik R Haque and Advocate Saiful Islam Sohel presented the petitioner’s side while Deputy Attorney General Bipul Bagmar stood for state.
Also read: Cluster admission tests: Application process begins April 1
For academic year 2020-2021 admission, 20 universities recently issued two notices on their admission test in cluster method.
The notice, issued on March 3, said students who passed SSC and equivalent exams from 2016 to 2018 and HSC and equivalent exams passed students of 2019 and 2020 are allowed to participate in the cluster admission test.
Later on March 31, another notice was issued where 2017 was mentioned excluding the students who passed in 2016.
Also read: Cluster admission test: DU students against any change
Following this, a student named Abir Hasan and 11 others who passed SSC exam in 2016 filed a writ petition at the High Court challenging the legality of the exclusion.
102 Bangladeshis held in Malaysia
The Malaysian Immigration Department arrested 309 illegal immigrants, including 102 Bangladeshis, during an integrated operation at a settlement near a construction site in Dengkil early Monday.
The detainees also included 193 Indonesians, eight Myanmar nationals, four Vietnamese, and two Indians.
Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud, director-general of the Immigration Department, said his department had received information from members of the public who claimed that there were individuals at the settlement who were believed to have violated the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the Movement Control Order (MCO).
He said, as a result, the department had raided the area and found that they did not comply with the MCO SOPs.
"I arrived with the operations team and found that their settlement was so dense, dirty and did not have a proper drainage system, apart from having a place to gather and eat in large numbers," Khairul said. "They also admitted that they lived in a group in one room, which is about four to seven people."
Read: Malaysia detains 500 'illegal' migrants including Bangladeshis
This showed that they were free to do anything at the construction site without any compliance with the MCO SOPs, Khairul also said. "This was the main purpose of the Home Ministry which directed the Immigration Department to help reduce positive cases of the Covid-19 outbreak at the workplace comprising immigrants."
"All these illegal immigrants will undergo the Covid-19 screening test today. After the test, they will be placed at the Semenyih Immigration Depot to be detained and investigated following Section 6 (1) (c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63 and Section 15 (1) (c) of the same law, before deportation," Khairul said.
During the operation, the Immigration Department also inspected 10 Rohingya refugees who are the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) cardholders.
"Out of 10 the UNHCR cardholders, only two of them were arrested for possessing fake UNHCR cards while the others were released," Khairul said.
On June 6, the Immigration Department detained 156 immigrants, including 62 Bangladeshis, during an integrated operation at an illegal settlement in Cyberjaya city.
The detainees also included Indonesian, Myanmarese, Nepali, Pakistani and Indian nationals.
Khairul said: "Two hundred and two immigrants from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar and India, including 12 women and two children were checked."
"However, 156 of them were detained for not having valid travel and identification documents before being taken to the Immigration Department's screening centre in Putrajaya for further action," he added.
Read: 62 Bangladeshis detained in Malaysia
Rape case against 4 children: suspension order of 7 police stayed
Chamber judge of the Appellate Division on Sunday stayed the High Court’s order of suspending 7 police members for four weeks over a rape case filed against four children in Bakerjganj police station in Barishal.
Chamber judge Obaydul Hasan’s bench passed the order and scheduled the next hearing on the matter with a full bench of Appellate Division on August 1.
Read: 4th grader killed ‘after rape’ in Rajshahi
Advocate Momtaj Uddin Fakir represented the state. The other side was presented by Barrister Md. Abdul Halim with assistance of Advocate Jamiul Haque and Barrister Sharmin Akter Shiuli.
On June 13, The High Court during a hearing on the matter canceled the rape case against those four children and issued a seven point direction, which included an order to temporarily suspend seven police members and social service officers involved, as well as departmental measures against them.
The court also ordered to withdraw Barishal’s senior judicial magistrate Md Enayet Ullah’s criminal judicial power, and instead to bestow him with the responsibility of civil court for sending the children to Jessore Child Development Center.
Read:Woman kidnapped from Dhaka kitchen market, raped by 3
The direction of the HC declared the arrest of the children and keeping them in police custody illegal and ordered a guideline be circulated for the police following the Children Act 2013.
Later a petition for staying the order was submitted with the chamber judge’s court of the Appellate Division.
On October 6 , 2020 police arrested four children after a case was filed against them for raping a 6-year old the same day.
On October 7, magistrate Enayet Ulaah’s court ordered police to send the children to Jessore child development center.
Read:31-yr-old raped by three in Sylhet
On October 8, High Court bench of justice Md Mojibur Rahman Mia and Mohi Uddin Shamim ordered the Barishal court to grant bail to the four children and send them to their respective homes during a virtual hearing, following which the Barishal court granted bail to the four accused children.
On October 11, the same HC bench passed stay order on the rape case and issued a rule on this matter.
Case filed in Kadamtali triple murder: police
A case was lodged with Kadamtali police station in the capital early Sunday in connection with the killing of a couple and their daughter, police said.
Police recovered the bodies of Masud Rana, 50, his wife Moushumi Islam and their daughter Jannatul from the flat located on the 1st floor of a multistoried building at 274/1 Lal Mia Sarder Road of Muradpur under Kadamtoli police station on Saturday.
Shakhwat Hossain, a brother of the victim Masud Rana filed the case accusing Masud Rana’s daughter Mehjabin and her husband Shafiqul Islam.
Also read: 3 of a family found dead in Dhaka
A murder case has been filed accusing daughter Mehejabin and her husband Shafiqul Islam Aranya for allegedly killing her parents and sister, said Officer-in-charge of Kadamtoli police station Jamal Uddin.
The case was filed by Masud Rana's elder brother Shakhawat Hossain.
Police have already arrested Mehjabin soon after the incident, while her husband Shafiqul Islam Aranya is being treated in police custody at Mitford Hospital in the capital, the OC said.
Police suspected that Mehzabin killed her father Masud Rana, mother Mausumi and sister Jannatul on Friday night over a family feud.
Also read: Case filed over Sylhet triple murder
The victims had scars on their necks. Police believe they were strangled to death after being first given sleeping pills or drugs.
Police said Mehzabin called the National Emergency Service 999 after the killings on Friday night and informed the police that she had killed her parents and her sister.
She also informed the police that her husband and daughter were sleeping in bed. "I can kill them too. I can kill myself. You come early. Catch me," she said.
Pori Moni case: Omi's associates get bail
Two associates of Tuhin Siddiqui Omi, one of the accused in a case over rape and murder attempt on actor Pori Moni, have been granted bail in a case filed against them under the Passport Act.
The court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Dhiman Kumar Mondal delivered the verdict granting bail to Bashir Miah and Mashiur Rahman Palash on Saturday.
A joint team of Dakkhinkhan and Savar police raided a recruiting agency belonging to Tuhin Siddiqui Omi in Dhaka's Dakkhinkhan area on the night of June 15 and recovered 102 passports from there.
Also read: Pori Moni buoyed by police work, calls it 'magic'
Two staffers, Bashir and Palash, were also arrested during the raid.
Later, Kamal Hossain, inspector (investigation) of Savar Police Station filed a case against Omi and the two arrestees with Dakkhinkhan Police Station under the Passport Act.
Besides, the court also ordered to send three young women arrested alongside Nasir U Mahmud and Tuhin Siddiqui Omi to jail after they were produced before it after completion of their remand.
Also read: Pori Moni case: Police press drug-related charges against Nasir, four others
A Dhaka court on 15 June placed Nasir U Mahmud and Tuhin Siddiqui Omi on a seven-day remand each in a case filed under the Narcotics Control Act.
Three women, also accused in the case, have been remanded for three days.
Etihad Airways asked to pay Tk2 crore to two Bangladeshis for harassment
The High Court (HC) on Wednesday asked the Etihad Airways to pay Tk1 crore compensation each to a Bangladeshi woman and her daughter in a 2011 case filed over harassing them at Abu Dhabi airport.
The UAE flag carrier will have to pay the compensation to Tanzeen Bristy and her mother Nahid Sultana Juthi, a Supreme Court lawyer and also the wife of Jubo League Chairman Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash.
Given the ongoing pandemic, Etihad was asked to pay the compensation in 20 equal monthly instalments after receiving the copy of the verdict.
This was an "arbitrary, unjust, and uncourteous" act of Etihad Airways which cannot be measured by fine only, the HC bench of Justice Md Ashraful Kamal and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil made the observation in the full 192-page text of the verdict.
On June 28, 2011, the mother and daughter were going to Canada on an Etihad flight. But they were harassed by the airline staff at Abu Dhabi airport and were forced back to Dhaka at their own cost.
On July 5, 2011, Bristy served a legal notice on Etihad, seeking compensation and action against the airline for their harassment.
On July 14 that year, the HC had asked the inquiry committee of the foreign ministry to submit the probe report in one month after collecting the video footage from Etihad.
On October 8 last year, the HC bench had announced its verdict following the writ petition filed by Bristy almost ten years ago.
HC orders judicial inquiry into agricultural land grabbing in Cox’s Bazar
The High Court on Tuesday ordered a judicial inquiry into how 60 acres of agricultural land were illegally grabbed from their real owners at Muhuripar of Cox’s Bazar district.
The order was passed by the HC bench of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah upon hearing a writ petition filed by rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK).
The judges asked the chief judicial magistrate of Cox’s Bazar to submit the probe report of the inquiry within two months.
They also ruled status quo on the possession of the land until further order.
Besides, the HC also wanted to know why the inaction and failure of the government's defendants to prevent illegal occupation of land in Muhuripara would not be illegal.
Land Secretary, Home Secretary, Cox's Bazar Deputy Commissioner and Additional Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of Police, Cox's Bazar Sadar Executive Magistrate, Sadar Upazila Executive Officer and Assistant Commissioner (Land), Sadar Police Station OC, Cox's Bazar Environment Office Assistant Director were made respondents to the rule.
Lawyers Syeda Nasrin and Md Shahinuzzaman appeared for the writ petitioner at the virtual hearing. Deputy Attorney General Nowroz Md Rasel Chowdhury represented the state.
ASK submitted the writ as a public interest litigation to the HC in March 14 of this year seeking its directives from the authorities concerned to recover the 60 acres of agricultural land from the illegal land grabbers .