10 years behind bars without trial

He was just 24 when arrested, and 10 years have passed since then. There was no appeal for his bail. He languished in jail for endless days and nights.

After this long decade, finally a lawyer appealed for bail on his behalf on Tuesday. A Dhaka court granted his bail.

This is the tale of Mohammed Firoz, the young man who was arrested on 9 May 2007.

Firoz’s lawyer Muniruzzaman Khan informed Prothom Alo that even if the charges of robbery against Firoz were proven true, he would get a 7-10-year prison sentence. "Yet he spent 10 years of his life behind bars without trial. This is inhuman."

When Muniruzzaman Khan heard about this case, he immediately approached the court for bail.

The case files state that over 10 years ago in May 2006, a robbery took place in the house of a certain Abdul Mannan Patwary in Pallabi, Dhaka. The armed robbers made off with valuable worth Taka 372,000. A case was filed against unidentified persons in this connection.

After investigations, on 26 November that year, the Mirpur police station sub-inspector (SI) Mahbubul Alam issued charge sheets against five persons including Firoz. Two years later their trial began on 9 June 2008. The accused pleaded innocent. Two others of the accused are out on bail. Another two are fugitives. Summon has been issued against witnesses, but they have not been brought before the court.

Prothom Alo’s investigations reveal, the trial against Firoz is being carried out at the special judge court 9 of Dhaka. The investigating officer who filed the charge sheets against Firoz and the others, never appeared in the court, even though the court has issued summons against him.

The other three witnesses of the police also have failed to turn up in court. Of the eleven witnesses, only two have appeared in court during the 10 years of this case. The last time one came to the court to give witness was in 2013. No witness has appeared since then.

Yet on the day of hearing, Firoz was brought to the court. Petitioner Abdul Mannan Patwary gave witness in court on 19 September 2011.

Among the members of police whom the court summoned as witnesses, are Pallabi police station’s SI Mahbub Alam, SI Nizam Uddin and SI Ashrafuzzaman.

Pallabi police station’s office-in-charge (OC) Dadon Fakir told Prothom Alo that he was not aware if any summons had been issued against witnesses in Firoz’s case, but he would make inquiries. He said it would be difficult to locate where these officers were posted now, 11 years since they were involved in the investigations.

Firoz was brought to court Tuesday. Speaking to Prothom Alo at the court premises, Firoz said he had been arrested on suspicion in this case. He said that he had lost his father as a child and lived in poverty. After his arrest, no one inquired after him. He couldn’t check his tears while relating the story of his time spent in jail.

A non-government human rights organisation, Legal Assistance to Helpless Prisoners, has provided legal aid to Firoz. Panel lawyer of the organisation Muniruzzaman said, Firoz had got married before his arrest, but his wife didn’t inquire about him after his arrest.

Upon hearing about the incident, Supreme Court lawyer Shahdeen Malik on Wednesday told Prothom Alo, the government should pay this man lakhs of taka in compensation for unlawfully keeping him in prison without trial. "That is the norm in any civilised country," he added.

Source: Prothom Alo