The interim government on Sunday formed committees at district and ministry levels to make recommendations for the withdrawal of politically motivated cases filed against political leaders and activists and innocent people for political reasons at different times.
A circular signed by the home ministry鈥檚 Public Security Division senior secretary Mohammad Abdul Momen in this regard on Sunday said that the government will receive applications seeking withdrawal of such cases until December 31.
It said that the applicants would have to submit applications to the district magistrates within the stipulated time.
The district-level committee would be headed by the district magistrate and the ministry-level committee would be headed by the law, justice and parliamentary affairs adviser.
The committees were formed after over six weeks of taking charge of the state power by Professor Muhammad Yunus-led interim government on August 8, three days after the fall of Sheikh Hasina regime amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5.
During the regime of Awami League president Sheikh Hasina, hundreds of thousands of leaders and activists of different opposition political parties faced cases that were termed 鈥榩olitically motivated cases鈥�, 鈥榗ases meant for harassing political opponents鈥�, or 鈥榝ictitious cases鈥� 聽by the then opposition political parties and rights organisations at home and abroad.
A good number of cases were also filed by the police against protesters and the then opposition political leaders during the student-led mass uprising.
The Sunday鈥檚 circular issued by the interim government, however, did not mention the specific time frame of filing those politically motivated cases for which political activists could submit applications to withdraw their names.
The Public Security Division senior secretary did not respond to phone calls or text message seeking comment on the issue.
The Sunday circular said that a district-level committee would be headed by the district magistrate and an additional district magistrate would work as its member secretary.
It said that the superintendent of police (a deputy commissioner of police for metropolitan areas), and the public prosecutor (metropolitan public prosecutor for metropolitan areas) will be members of the district-level committee.
The circular said that an applicant seeking withdrawal of his or her name would have to submit a certified copy of the case statement and, in case of submission of a charge sheet in the case, he or she would have to submit the certified copy of the charge-sheet too.
It said that the district magistrate would forward opinions to the district public prosecutor and special metropolitan public prosecutor within seven working days after receiving the application.
The public prosecutor or the special metropolitan public prosecutor would provide opinion to the district magistrate within 15 working days after receiving the application.
The district magistrate would present the public prosecutor鈥檚 opinion in the district committee meeting within seven working days after receiving the opinion.
The circular said that if the case appeared politically motivated to the district committee, it would recommend to the government for withdrawal of the case.
The district magistrate would send information, including recommendations, case statement and charge sheet to the home ministry within 45 working days after receiving an application.
According to the circular, law, justice and parliamentary affairs adviser was the president of the ministry-level committee while Public Security Division senior secretary, additional secretary for law and discipline wing and law, justice and parliament affairs ministry joint secretary for law were the members of the committee.
It said that the ministry-level committee would examine and experiment with recommendations from the district committee, prepare a list by identifying the cases worth withdrawal, and take necessary actions.
The politically motivated cases for harassment under the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2004, however, would not be dropped without the commission鈥檚 written order, it said.
The ministry also proposed to prepare a list of the cases under the ACC Act 2004 that were lodged for harassing individuals politically.
The Awami League-led alliance government had formed a similar committee in 2009 and recommended the withdrawal of 7,249 criminal cases, including several sensational murder cases filed during the military-backed interim regime and Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance government.
The BNP-led government had also set up a similar committee to review the politically-motivated cases and withdrew 5,888 cases filed during the 1996鈥�01 Awami League government against about 17,000 people, mostly political leaders and activists.