TDS Desk

Dulal alias Dulu Molla, 60, of Shulpara in Shariatpur Sadar, runs a grocery shop at Shulpara Bazar. He was astonished to hear that he was made an accused in a murder case recorded at Jatrabari Police Station after a Dhaka court ordered the station to do so on 10 September.

In the case, the address of Dulal was mentioned as Rayerbagh, Jatrabari and he was labeled as an Awami League (AL) leader. However, this correspondent has confirmed that Dulal has no address in the capital. He has been running the shop for many years at the said bazaar. Besides, he has no political link.

This is only one example of innocent people being implicated in the cases filed over the murders and other incidents that took place during the mass upsurge.

The case was filed over the killing of Riazul Talukder, an activist of Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, during the mass uprising at Jatrabari in the capital on 4 August, just a day before the ouster of the fascist Awami League government.

The victim’s brother Rubel Talukder applied for the case with the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Saddam Hossain against 134 other people, including ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Salauddin Khan, a relative of Dulal, told  that there was a meeting with a politically influential quarter over excluding the names of innocent accused from the charge sheet of the case. “And for this, each will have to pay Tk50,000,” he said.

When contacted, the plaintiff of the case, Rubel, told that he was unaware of Dulal. “I have mentioned some names in the case while some influential people have implicated the names of the other people in it.”

Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the police station Faruk Hossain told that they are investigating the case. After the investigation, they will place their report as per the findings.

Many industrialists and businessmen have been implicated in the cases though they had no involvement in the incidents.

According to the data of Police Headquarters, after the overthrow of the AL government, about 1,695 cases were filed on charges of killings, attempt-to-murders and other incidents. The law enforcers arrested 3,195 people, including 74 senior leaders of AL and officials of its government till 9 October.

Advocate Ehsanul Haque Shomaji told that an officer-in-charge (OC) will record any cognizable offence as a first information report (FIR) as per the Code of Criminal Procedure-1898’s section 154.

He said that if the OC finds that innocent people have been accused and the case does not have sufficient grounds to investigate, he or she cannot investigate it.

He then quoted section 157(1)(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure: “If it appears to the officer-in-charge of a police station that there is no sufficient ground for entering into an investigation, he shall not investigate the case.”

The senior lawyer said the OC will place a report before the court and inform the plaintiff or complainant about it.

Advocate Mizanur Rahman told  that the merit of any case is based on witnesses. “If the witnesses are found, the cases will have merit. Otherwise, the cases will have no merit,” he said.

Let us take another example in this regard: A case was filed over the murder of Intisharul Haque, 21, with Shreepur Police Station on 5 October. The victim was also killed during the mass uprising.

In the case, Kala Mia alias Kalam was made an accused, but Kalam died of brain haemorrhage on 25 September.

Shyamoli Akhter, the daughter of the victim, posed a question why her dead father was made an accused in the case.

In another incident, Manju Mia, a construction worker, died due to a gunshot injury during the mass upsurge at Borobari in Gazipur on 20 July.  The victim’s father Insar Ali filed a case against 85 people with Gacha Police Station on 25 August.

However, the complainant was surprised to discover the names of a number of people – which he did not mention – who were accused in the case.

“I don’t know whether the Awami League men or police shot my son. But I heard from my daughter that he was shot in the belly. I just narrated the incident to the police and a lawyer and then they did the rest,” he said.