Legal experts questioned the filing of wholesale murder cases against deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her aides and took them to custody for interrogation on allegations of killings during the student-led mass uprising that toppled the government on August 5.
Speaking to 抖阴精品 on Saturday, the experts observed that the wholesale murder cases reminded them of the reprisals or revenge taken against opposition leaders in the past, although the country is now being governed by an interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus.
鈥業t seems to me that Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami have come to state power and Awami League leaders have been prosecuted, and arrested,鈥� former High Court judge Khademul Islam Chowdhury told 抖阴精品 on Saturday.
鈥楾he remand for interrogation in wholesale murder cases appears as political vendetta and revenge without following the basic law of the land,鈥� said Khademul, also a former chairman of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Land Dispute Resolution Commission.
Ousted prime minister and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, her cabinet and party colleagues, and their aides face at least 56 cases until Saturday.
Of the cases, Hasina is accused in 46 murder cases, seven cases of genocide and crimes against humanity, one case of shooting at students and mobs, one case of abduction, and one case of attacking the motorcade of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia. Politicians, former ministers, lawmakers, family members of Hasina, her alliance partner Rashed Khan Menon, national cricketer Shakib Al Hasan, retired judges, and journalists are among those prosecuted on murder charges.
On August 14, the interim government decided to hold trials for the 鈥榤ass killing鈥� committed during the Student Movement Against Discrimination between July 1 and August 5 under the International Crimes Tribunal Act.
Senior lawyer and jurist Shahdeen Malik suspected that the high-profile leaders of AL and their aides might be detained in jails for a limited period in non-bailable cases for murders.
He said that it would be difficult for investigators to frame murder charges against the top-ranked politicians, the police officers, and their associates after proving the unspecific allegations against the accused people.
Rights lawyer ZI Khan Panna criticised the case against veteran politician and freedom fighter Rashed Khan Menon on the allegation of killing New Market trader Abdul Wadud on July 19, although the case did not mention any specific role of Menon.
He said that cricketer Shakib Al Hasan, who is accused of killing garment worker Mohammad Rubel in the Adabor area on August 5, was not present in the country during the murder.
He said that there would be no result from the cases if the politicians and their aides were arrested in concocted cases, as done by the AL government.聽
Another rights lawyer, Sara Hossain, expressed concern about the arrest of politicians and their aides, their remand, and the arbitrary recording of cases.
Supreme Court guidelines are not being followed while law enforcers are making arrests and the magistrates are granting detained people remand, she said.聽
She said that original offenders will escape punishment in case of any violation of the law, which will be a betrayal to families and the victims of the students and other people killed in indiscriminate police firing by law enforcers during the movement of Students Against Discrimination.聽聽聽
She urged the interim government to issue directives to follow SC directives and other laws on arrests, remands, and filing cases immediately.聽聽聽
Senior lawyers Munsurul Hoque Chowdhury and Khurshid Alam Khan, however, said that there is scope for including and excluding the accused from the charge sheet in the case of any arrest and prosecution of innocent people.
鈥業t is not time to say who is innocent or not at the stage of the investigation,鈥� Munsurul said.
Another senior lawyer, MI Farooqui, said that arrested people face media trials, which are not allowed by law or the constitution.
鈥業 cannot say which cases are right or not without going through the records,鈥� said additional attorney Abdul Jabbar Bhuiyan.
He said that the merit of the cases would be known when accused people sought bail in those cases.
