Judicial
probe report
The
judicial inquiry commission in its report has obliquely referred several
times to a country which it blamed for the August 21 grenade attack
on an Awami League rally, but it did not name the country for diplomatic
reasons.
The source, however,
would not name the local agents of the foreign enemies blamed for the
carnage, saying it is impossible for the judicial commission to identify
the perpetrators. It is the responsibility of the intelligence agencies
to trace them. The report termed the deadly incident a naked attack
on the independence and sovereignty of the country and recommended the
intelligence agencies be immediately revamped for foiling a repeat of
such incidents. The report made 22 recommendations including one for
increased security for the leader of the opposition.
Apart from recommending
filming of rallies and meetings by intelligence agencies for identifying
perpetrators of such attacks in future, the commission suggested cordon
off the rally venue to facilitate an immediate search for and arrest
of the attackers. All buildings near the venue must be checked properly
before a rally or meeting begins, the commission recommended. The commission
also suggested a forensic laboratory be set up at the Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) and a bomb disposal squad of the police. The Daily
Star, October 4.
Family flees
home for fatwa
A family in a village under sader upazila of Rangpur district
has fled their home after local religious extremists attacked and threatened
to kill them for non-compliance with a fatwa. Efzalul and Anjuma Khatun,
a young couple of Bouyipara under Uttom union, had been subjected to
the fatwa (religious decree) that eventually spared none of the family
from the terrible ordeal.
Efzalul said that,
on July 15, at one stage of a typical husband-wife altercation he in
a fit of temper uttered the word 'talak' (divorce). Three days later
when they had almost forgotten the trivial incident, local religious
leadership of the village came to his house and asked him to send his
wife to her parents.
He was also told
that he would have to live without Anjuma unless she performs a 'hilla'
(marry someone else other than his husband). They warned him that he
would have to face dire consequence if he continues to live with his
wife. Efzalul had filed a case with Kotwali Police Station but the police
are yet to arrest anyone in this connection. The Daily Star, October
4.
Dr Zahir blames police
Dr M Zahir, counsel for the petitioner who demanded and secured
ad-interim injunction on Sept 29 against the mass arrest ahead of the
October 3 grand rally of Awami League, blasted the police action and
pleaded for the arrestees' immediate release. Zahir submitted his complaint
that police had acted trampling the fundamental rights of citizens.
Meanwhile, a government
report submitted to the High Court reveals that police arrested 3,025
people in Dhaka city in the wake of Awami League's April 30 deadline
of toppling the government of which 2,200 were awarded short-term jail.
The report said
the magistrates sentenced them to jail for one or two days for violation
of Section 86 of DMP Act (suspicious movement). "Why were so many
people thrown behind the bars when produced before the court? Who have
testified their offence? How did the magistrates prove their offence
beyond doubt?" Zahir raised the pertinent questions before the
vacation bench comprising Justice M Awlad Ali and Justice AFM Abdur
Rahman.
Additional Attorney
General AJ Mohammad Ali sought time for hearing of the petition.
The daily Star. October 4.
Roundtable
on children in trouble with law
Senior ministers, legal practitioners, child-rights activists
and NGO leaders at a roundtable called for a more child-friendly legal
system to stop abuse of children in confinement for falling foul of
the law.
Despite a comprehensive
Children Act, 1974, over 1,000 juvenile offenders are wrongly tried
as adults and abused under the system due to mismanagement, wrong approach
to the juvenile framework and ignorance of the law by a section of the
lower judiciary, police and government officers. Law, Justice and Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Moudud Ahmed and Minister for Social Welfare AAM Mujaheed,
who were present at the roundtable, admitted to inadequate state systems
to prevent abuse of confined children. They felt across-the-board changes
in the legal system were necessary and said the amendments are in the
pipeline to prevent abuse of children by the law.
As many as 1,004
children are currently in jail and 253 others in different Kishore Unnayan
Kendras (KUK), according to Save the Children, UK (SCUK) study titled
'Children in Trouble with Law'.
Shohana Shabnam
of the SCUK presented a keynote paper which said in 2002, an inter-ministerial
committee was formed to protect the rights of the children and taskforces
were constituted at national, district and upazila level.
Mahfuz Anam, editor
of The Daily Star, moderated the roundtable, called for specific government
initiatives for more concrete results in ensuring the rights of the
children. The Daily Star, October 5.
Jail Killing
Case Commission visits witness
The three-member commission tasked with verifying reported
ill health of Saifuddin Ahmed said the key witness to the historic Jail
Killing Case is unable beyond doubt to appear at court. The commission
members said they would appeal to court on October 9 to drop his name
from the list of witnesses on grounds of poor health, paving the way
for the judgement without further delay.
The commission of
Metropolitan Public Prosecutor (PP) , Officer-in-Charge of Sutrapur
Police Station and Taheruddin's counsel visited a bed-ridden Saifuddin
at his Nawabpur house. A diabetic patient for 30 years, Saifuddin has
been suffering from Parkinson's disease since 1999. The Daily Star.
October 6.
No more foreign
consultants for judicial reform
The Supreme Court decided to run the legal and judiciary capacity
building project on its own after the foreign consulting company for
the project had left Bangladesh in June 2004 without giving any notice.
The decision came at a meeting, presided over by Chief Justice Syed
JR Mudassir Hussain. The meeting formed a high-powered committee to
supervise reforms in the judicial system, expeditious development of
the judicial administration and computerisation of the courts under
the project. The committee, headed by the chief justice, comprises Law,
Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Moudud Ahmed, Justice Md
Ruhul Amin, Justice Mohammad Fazlul Karim and Justice MM Ruhul Amin
of the Appellate Division, Justice Md Ali Asgar Khan of the High Court
Division and the registrar of the Supreme Court.
The US-based Institutional Reforms and Informal Sector was engaged as
consultant for the Tk 240 crore project. The company was scheduled to
complete its work by October 2004. However, all the ten persons of the
company, who had been working on the project, one Australian and the
rest US citizens, left the country in June without giving any notice
to the government or the project authorities. According to sources,
those foreign experts took Tk 16 crore as their fees, allowances and
other benefits before leaving the country, although they had completed
only 41 per cent of the project. The Daily Ittefaq, October 6.
Triple murder
case charges against Kajal
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Police pressed charges
against Jubo Dal leader Rafiqul Islam Kajal and eight others in the
macabre triple murder case of a Old Dhaka businessman, his son and chauffeur
in March last.
Mohammad Shamsul
Haq, a businessman of Old Dhaka, his son Russel Sheikh, 29, and chauffeur
Moazzem Hossain were abducted on March 26 and butchered in a bid to
grab a hosiery market and Tk 5 lakh.
Besides Kajal, the
4-page charge sheet submitted to the Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate,
Dhaka, accused his. The Daily Star, October 6.
Rab seals
3 godowns of milk powder
Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) sealed three godowns of milk
powder and arrested five people, including leader of a trade body, in
the city's Chaktai area for marketing adulterated and smuggled milk
powder.
Acting on a tip-off,
the Rab team went to the area and sealed the three godowns, owned by
one Tarik Sowdagar, with huge quantity of adulterated milk powder.
During the operation,
business leader Abul Hossain, persuaded by the godown owner, made an
attempt to settle the issue by offering Tk 2 lakh to the Rab team. He
was ready to pay Tk 1,20,000 at that time and the remaining Tk 80,000
the next day. The team responded positively to the offer camouflaging
their real intention, sources said.
The Rab team arrested
Abul Hossain, Farid and Shah Alam as soon as they approached the team
with the money. More than 250 bags, each containing 25 kg of adulterated
milk powder, were also seized from the godowns.
The gang used to
collect date-expired milk powder from some importers, mixed it with
smuggled milk powder and sold them in packets, sources said. Daily
Prothom Alo, October 6.
