public prosecutors’ fee in death reference cases

It’s paltry indeed

Poor defence of death row convicts termed ‘worst form of rights violation’

In court, money can buy you a great defence team. But what if you cannot afford one? You have to depend on public prosecutors, of course. Those who are very poor and serving time in jail for several terms—especially the death penalty— for committing crimes have to rely on representation by public defenders. They cannot afford to hire attorneys to defend themselves. Death references cases are considered as the most sensitive and important ones, compared to other cases. However, prosecution lawyers are entitled to get just Tk 300 for a day as the retainer fee for taking part in the hearing of a death reference case at the High Court (HC).
A lawyer of a prosecution team can withdraw maximum Tk 2,000 for the completion of the entire procedure of a death reference case even after the lawyer moves before the High Court for a month to complete the whole proceedings of the death reference, if required.
The outcome of state-appointed defence lawyers is not at all satisfactory. This is because newcomer lawyers engage themselves in the list of state-defence lawyers as the senior lawyers are not interested in conducting the death reference cases for paltry amounts of money. As a result, the state-defence lawyers usually lose in the legal battles in most of the cases, as they are not able to submit proper arguments before the court.
Rehana Akter, one of the enlisted state-defence lawyers, told The Independent, “Though I am enlisted as a state-defence lawyer to conduct the cases on behalf of accused persons, I am not interested in conducting the death reference cases as a state-defence lawyer. There is no financial benefit. Hence, I have not received a case from the authorities concerned as the fees in such a case are very poor.”
In response to a query, she said, “I used to receive the death reference cases as a state-defence lawyer to learn something from the case documents. I receive the cases only for learning, not for earning,” she added. According to the sources in the law ministry, a total of 67 lawyers was enlisted as state-defence lawyers in the government office. The solicitor’s office of the law ministry appoints the state-defence lawyers in accordance with the requirements. Regarding the demand for a hike in state-defence lawyer fees, Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique in the case of state vs. Tohurul Islam mentioned Chapter XII of the Legal Remembrancer’s Manual, 1960, which said, “It is high time to revise the government order fixing the fees of the state defence lawyer without further delay. The state defence lawyers are doing the sacred job of saving the neck of a human being. There is no scope for taking the matter lightly; rather it should be taken into consideration with utmost seriousness.”
The verdict also mentioned Section 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, which says that condemned prisoners are supposed to walk to the gallows but, unfortunately, they are not getting the opportunity to defend themselves properly. Walking to the gallows without an opportunity of being defended by a competent lawyer is the worst form of violation of human rights, it noted.
The HC verdict said, “We, as part of the judiciary, strongly believe that the time has come to do something for the condemned prisoners. We find that the condemned prisoners are supposed to walk to the gallows, but unfortunately they are not getting opportunity to defend themselves properly. This court notes with utter dismay that the solicitor’s wing of the law ministry appoints the state defence lawyers, who have very minimum knowledge about criminal cases of grave nature like Sections 302 and 396 of the Penal Code, etc. We cannot just allow the condemned prisoners to walk to the gallows without giving them an opportunity of being defended by competent lawyers. In fact, walking to the gallows without any opportunity of being defended by a competent lawyer is the worst form of violation of human rights.
“All state defence lawyers have a common grievance that they are given very minimum amounts as ‘fees’ for attending the court to defend the condemned prisoners. We expect that the solicitor’s wing of the law ministry shall take proper steps to enhance the ‘fees’ of the state defence lawyers so that they get the reasonable fees,” stated the HC verdict, delivered on February 5, 2014.
Copies of the verdict were sent to the authorities concerned, including the secretary of the law ministry and solicitor’s office, for taking necessary steps to raise the fees of the state defence lawyers.
The law ministry, in a circular on November 16, 2006, said the government had re-fixed the state-defence lawyers’ fee for a day at Tk. 300 from Tk. 120 for a day. A state-defence lawyer can withdraw the highest amount of Tk. 2,000 for a death reference case, the circular said.
A high-ranking official of the government said on condition of anonymity that among the 67 enlisted lawyers, now just five to six lawyers were interested in conducting the death reference cases. Other lawyers did not evince interest in receiving the cases, citing the paltry fees.
He, however, said the newcomer lawyers evinced interest to receive the cases only to make themselves familiar as lawyers, as their names get printed in the daily cause list. They also become good lawyers day by day by collecting information from the case documents.
Talking to this correspondent, Supreme Court Bar Association president Yusuf Hossain Humayun said the trial court usually engages the state-defence lawyers for those accused persons who are not capable of engaging a lawyer to defend themselves during the trial proceedings.
“The state-defence lawyer is now getting Tk. 300 for taking part in a day’s hearing, which is a very poor amount when the present economic situation is considered,” the SCBA president said. He further said, “The government should consider the matter by giving it more importance. If the law ministry takes the initiative to increase the fees of the state-defence lawyers, the matter would be easily solved.” He also said that the attorney-general’s office should also take initiatives to increase the fees of the state-defence lawyers. “I hope the authorities would give a recommendation to increase the state-defence lawyers’ fees,” he added. Law minister Anisul Huq said the government has indeed taken an initiative to increase the state-defence lawyers’ fees. In response to a query, he said a circular would be issued by fixing the amount of state-defence lawyer fees later on. A proposal will be placed very soon in this respect, he added.

public prosecutors fee in death reference cases

Its paltry indeed

Poor defence of death row convicts termed worst form of rights violation

In court, money can buy you a great defence team. But what if you cannot afford one? You have to depend on public prosecutors, of course. Those who are very poor and serving time in jail for several termsespecially the death penalty for committing crimes have to rely on representation by public defenders. They cannot afford to hire attorneys to defend themselves. Death references cases are considered as the most sensitive and important ones, compared to other cases. However, prosecution lawyers are entitled to get just Tk 300 for a day as the retainer fee for taking part in the hearing of a death reference case at the High Court (HC). A lawyer of a prosecution team can withdraw maximum Tk 2,000 for the completion of the entire procedure of a death reference case even after the lawyer moves before the High Court for a month to complete the whole proceedings of the death reference, if required. The outcome of state-appointed defence lawyers is not at all satisfactory. This is because newcomer lawyers engage themselves in the list of state-defence lawyers as the senior lawyers are not interested in conducting the death reference cases for paltry amounts of money. As a result, the state-defence lawyers usually lose in the legal battles in most of the cases, as they are not able to submit proper arguments before the court. Rehana Akter, one of the enlisted state-defence lawyers, told The Independent, Though I am enlisted as a state-defence lawyer to conduct the cases on behalf of accused persons, I am not interested in conducting the death reference cases as a state-defence lawyer. There is no financial benefit. Hence, I have not received a case from the authorities concerned as the fees in such a case are very poor. In response to a query, she said, I used to receive the death reference cases as a state-defence lawyer to learn something from the case documents. I receive the cases only for learning, not for earning, she added. According to the sources in the law ministry, a total of 67 lawyers was enlisted as state-defence lawyers in the government office. The solicitors office of the law ministry appoints the state-defence lawyers in accordance with the requirements. Regarding the demand for a hike in state-defence lawyer fees, Justice Quamrul Islam Siddique in the case of state vs. Tohurul Islam mentioned Chapter XII of the Legal Remembrancers Manual, 1960, which said, It is high time to revise the government order fixing the fees of the state defence lawyer without further delay. The state defence lawyers are doing the sacred job of saving the neck of a human being. There is no scope for taking the matter lightly; rather it should be taken into consideration with utmost seriousness. The verdict also mentioned Section 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, which says that condemned prisoners are supposed to walk to the gallows but, unfortunately, they are not getting the opportunity to defend themselves properly. Walking to the gallows without an opportunity of being defended by a competent lawyer is the worst form of violation of human rights, it noted. The HC verdict said, We, as part of the judiciary, strongly believe that the time has come to do something for the condemned prisoners. We find that the condemned prisoners are supposed to walk to the gallows, but unfortunately they are not getting opportunity to defend themselves properly. This court notes with utter dismay that the solicitors wing of the law ministry appoints the state defence lawyers, who have very minimum knowledge about criminal cases of grave nature like Sections 302 and 396 of the Penal Code, etc. We cannot just allow the condemned prisoners to walk to the gallows without giving them an opportunity of being defended by competent lawyers. In fact, walking to the gallows without any opportunity of being defended by a competent lawyer is the worst form of violation of human rights. All state defence lawyers have a common grievance that they are given very minimum amounts as fees for attending the court to defend the condemned prisoners. We expect that the solicitors wing of the law ministry shall take proper steps to enhance the fees of the state defence lawyers so that they get the reasonable fees, stated the HC verdict, delivered on February 5, 2014. Copies of the verdict were sent to the authorities concerned, including the secretary of the law ministry and solicitors office, for taking necessary steps to raise the fees of the state defence lawyers. The law ministry, in a circular on November 16, 2006, said the government had re-fixed the state-defence lawyers fee for a day at Tk. 300 from Tk. 120 for a day. A state-defence lawyer can withdraw the highest amount of Tk. 2,000 for a death reference case, the circular said. A high-ranking official of the government said on condition of anonymity that among the 67 enlisted lawyers, now just five to six lawyers were interested in conducting the death reference cases. Other lawyers did not evince interest in receiving the cases, citing the paltry fees. He, however, said the newcomer lawyers evinced interest to receive the cases only to make themselves familiar as lawyers, as their names get printed in the daily cause list. They also become good lawyers day by day by collecting information from the case documents. Talking to this correspondent, Supreme Court Bar Association president Yusuf Hossain Humayun said the trial court usually engages the state-defence lawyers for those accused persons who are not capable of engaging a lawyer to defend themselves during the trial proceedings. The state-defence lawyer is now getting Tk. 300 for taking part in a days hearing, which is a very poor amount when the present economic situation is considered, the SCBA president said. He further said, The government should consider the matter by giving it more importance. If the law ministry takes the initiative to increase the fees of the state-defence lawyers, the matter would be easily solved. He also said that the attorney-generals office should also take initiatives to increase the fees of the state-defence lawyers. I hope the authorities would give a recommendation to increase the state-defence lawyers fees, he added. Law minister Anisul Huq said the government has indeed taken an initiative to increase the state-defence lawyers fees. In response to a query, he said a circular would be issued by fixing the amount of state-defence lawyer fees later on. A proposal will be placed very soon in this respect, he added.