6 lawyers in collusion with some influential people were involved in the forgeries
Bail forgery a concern
DB unearths 17 bail forgery incidents
MUHAMMAD YEASIN
Increasing number of bail forgery incidents appears to be a matter of concern with the Detective Branch (DB) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police stumbling upon 17 such incidents while digging into a lone bail forgery case. All the accused persons involved in these cases have already taken bail from the High Court (HC) through forgery, according to sources. Some influential persons are involved in committing the misdeed to earn quick bucks the easy way. Even though the HC has taken a strong stand against bail forgery, lack of exemplary punishment to the offenders is encouraging others to follow the trend.
Some influential people, including six lawyers, were involved in the recently unearthed bail forgery cases. The DB submitted its investigation report to the HC and requested the authorities concerned to cancel the bail of the accused persons who had obtained bail by giving misinformation. It also urged them to give exemplary punishment to those who were involved in the misdeed. The attorney generals office and the registrar generals office of the Supreme Court (SC) have already received the report and started proceeding to take action in this regard. SC registrar general Dr Zakir Hossain said they would take action against the offenders after identifying them.
Deputy attorney general Motahar Hossain Saju said they started proceedings to identify the offenders. Were working to identify everyone involved in the bail forgery incident, he added.
They said the HC should set a timeframe for completing the investigation and trial proceedings against the offenders. They also asked for exemplary punishment of the guilty persons to prevent others from committing the crime in future.
Sometimes criminals hide real information from lawyers. A section of people are involved in making bail petitions by using false documents, sources said.
It was learnt that the DB police started the investigation on November 14 last year and seized 81 duplicate seals from Boni Amin Mollah of Khulna, who stayed in a rented flat in Chnakharpool area in the city. The duplicate seals of the HC, lower courts and jails were found in his possession.
As per Amins statement, the DB arrested
advocate Abdul Samad, who was involved in the crime. After filing a case, the DB started the investigation and found 17 bail forgery incidents where the accused had taken bail from the HC in connection with a number of drug-related cases.
Zakir Hossain said powerful persons were behind the forgery. They are involved in illegal businesses and make large amounts of money. They seek release from jail at the earliest possible time, he added.
In response to a question, the SC registrar general said they were trying to eradicate the problem. Well file cases against those involved in the bail forgery. Weve already received the investigation report, he added.
Former law minister barrister Shafique Ahmed said exemplary punishment should be given to those involved in the matter. The HC should set a timeframe to complete the investigation and trial proceedings of the cases. If the court ensures exemplary punishment for the offenders, such incidents are not going to take place. Otherwise, this type of crime wont stop, he noted.
The senior jurist also said that people would lose faith in the judiciary if the HC did not take stern action against the offenders.
Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president advocate Joynul Abedin told The Independent that they were against touts and cheats. We dont want to see the involvement of any lawyer in bail forgery. Well take tough action if anyone is found guilty, he said.
It was known from the case statement of Asraful Islam that the police on October 17, 2016, had filed a case against Asraful Islam with Godagari police station in Rajshahi after finding 550 gm of heroin in his possession.
On November 29, the police submitted the chargesheet against him before the special judges court of Rajshahi where the case is now under trial. But the accused secured bail from the HC on February 25 this year.
When the case document reached the lower court of Rajshahi, the judge identified the forged document by which Asraful Islam had been granted bail by the HC. After that, the lower court judge sent the case document before the SC registrar general. Finally, the HC cancelled his bail order after reprimanding the accused person.
On January 31 this year, the HC bench of Justice Sheikh Abdul Awal and Justice Md Khasruzzaman directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Supreme Court registrar general to investigate a fictitious bail order that was placed before it during hearing of a petition.
The petion was filed by an accused seeking bail in a case filed in Chattogram in January last year. The case was filed over possession of 22,000 pieces of yaba tablets. While the court was hearing a bail petition filed by Rafique, one of the accused in the case, it received the forged copy of an HC order granting bail to Selim Uddin, another accused in the case.
The court became suspicious when Rafiques lawyersMohammad Rezaul Karim and Mohammad Azizur Rahman Mishuplaced before it Selims bail order issued earlier by the same court. Since the judges of the court could not recollect granting bail to Selim in the yaba possession case before, they called in four court officials\tasked with typing, attaching, comparing and signing HC ordersto verify whether the bail order was a forged one. After scrutinising the document, the officials verified that Selims bail order was not prepared by them. The HC then ordered the CID and the SC registrar general to investigate the incident and take steps.
