The production of
fake bail is so serious an issue that we expect the Chief Justice would take special measures so that no case similar to this one is not noted anymore
Fake bail papers
It is very shocking to know that more than a hundred criminals charged for committing serious crimes were being freed from jail by producing fake papers of bail from a Dhaka court. Revealed about a week ago, plainly speaking, this does not bode well for the image of the judiciary. Nor public interest that doers of serious crimes should remain in jail is served in any way.
According to media reports, some officials of the relevant court were responsible for this unprecedented crime and one peshkar (a judges office assistant or judicial clerk) was arrested in this connection. But the judge of that court whose signature was copied in the fake papers of bail can in no way escape responsibility for these crimes as it was his responsibility to oversee the affairs of his office thoroughly.
As the news of this fraud spread, intriguingly the relevant court is now avoiding the journalists who want to scrutinise the papers of this court. It goes without saying that the actual criminals in this fraud have to be found out and given exemplary punishment so that none in future dares to commit this sort of crime that greatly undermines the rule of law. According to reports, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) would also investigate this crime and it is hoped that it would spare no effort to identify the real culprits behind the crime.
Only about a week ago, the World Justice Project, a UK-based research organisation, in a study found that Bangladesh is way behind in its rule of law index. Among the 102 countries studied Bangladeshs position was 93 while Nepal, Sri Lanka, and India were respectively 48, 58 and 59. In the region, Bangladesh scored better compared to Pakistan only (98). For establishing good governance and rule of law, it is the government which has to take up such matters very seriously.
The problems of our judiciary are many. Because of slow disposal of cases --- it has created huge piles of cases in courts all over the country --- many now do not even think of going to a court for resolving disputes. The controversial role of police also discourages people, especially women, to take help of the court. Then there is the alleged pervasive corruption in the judiciary. The recent fraud with the papers of bail is one glaring example of this. The production of fake bail is so serious an issue that we expect the Chief Justice would take special measures so that no case similar to this one is not noted anymore.
