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Wednesday, February 6, 2008

[mukto-mona] Trial against corruption, not person

Dear Sir/Mam,
 
Hope you are doing well and thanks for publishing my previous write-ups
 
This is an article about Trial against corruption, not person. I will be highly honoured if you publish this article. I apprecite your time to read this article.
 
Thanks
 
Have a nice time
 
With Best Regards
 
Ripan Kumar Biswas
New York, U.S.A
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Trial against corruption, not person
 
Ripan Kumar Biswas
 
I started wondering how this business makes money without a care even in New York while a customer was claiming at the cash counter that he didn't suppose to pay dinner price as he started his diner before 6 p.m. when the restaurant authority usually changed their dinner menu with high price. The customer was right as because when he started his dining there was different menu with low price. Such changes shouldn't be imposed or applied to those who come before by any means.
 
Such allegations shouldn't be applied against anyone for any pre-emergency incidents by any means. No doubt that the landmark judgment of the day against the former Prime Minister and chairman of the Awami Leauge Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday, February 6, 2007 by the High Court (HC) of Bangladesh was purely according to the Constitution of Bangladesh and the Constitution doesn't allow cases to be tried the Emergency Power Rules (EPR) for such incidents that have taken place after the imposition of the state of emergency.
 
An HC division bench comprising Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Shahidul Islam quashed the extortion case against Sheikh Hasina, who is detained in a special sub jail since July 16, 2007. Hasina was shown arrested in the extortion case filed by Azam J Chowdhury, managing director of private Eastcoast Trading Limited, on June 13, 2007. The plaintiff accused Hasina and her cousin former minister Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim of extorting taka about Taka 3 crore ($428571) during her Awami League rule between 1996 and 2001. Earlier on January 24, 2008, Azam said in a press briefing that he had not filed any case against Sheikh Hasina.
 
The HC court in its observations said trial of an offence committed before the promulgation of the Emergency Power Ordinance 2007 cannot be held under the ambit of the EPR and the Constitution and existing laws do not permit holding trial of an offence under a law taking retrospective effect. According to the provisions in articles 31-35 of the constitution, none of the rights of a citizen, including the right for bail, can be curtailed by promulgating any act during the state of emergency. The EPR revokes the provision of seeking bail is ''ultra vires'' of the Constitution.
 
Regarding the government sanction for inclusion of an offence for trial under the EPR, the court observed that an offence cannot be considered having public importance based on the offender's personal standing and social status rather considering the gravity of the offence. Although the state of emergency has suspended enforcement of certain fundamental rights under the Constitution, but the selfsame rights guaranteed under the Constitution are not suspended and the people have the right to invoke justice in the court of law.
 
Hasina, along with her arch political rival Khaleda Zia, the chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and subsequently Prime Minister, led the anti-autocratic movement in the 1980s, which helped in the restoration of democracy in the early 1990s.
 
Meanwhile, according to her counsel, Khaleda Zia was detained in solitary sub-jail for the last four months and was never brought in person to the court. The counsel filed a petition to produce her in the court and argued that long detention without trial is a violation of the law and she may be inflicted by serious mental and physical disease because of solitary detention.
 
In an immediate reaction with BBC about the verdict, Additional Attorney General Salahuddin Ahmed told that such judgement was not expected to them while HC quashed the entire trial proceedings against Hasina whereas she did not seek the quashing of the case. However, the government filed a petition with Chamber Court of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking stay on the High Court rulings not only for the HC verdict in favor of Sheikh Hasina but also a considerable number of cases brought under the EPR have been stayed by HC.
 
Continuing journey against corruption, uprooting Islamic militancy from the country, bringing chain-in-command and deleting partisan in the administration are all of positive signs of a good government. Bangladesh welcomed the crackdown against more than 160 high profiled corrupted politicians, bureaucrats and criminals being detained and expelled in the anti-graft drive by the present military backed interim government.
 
According to the emergency law, the executive authority has wide authorities related to restricting the freedoms of individuals and their constitutional rights, like restricting the right of individuals to peaceful assembly, transportation, residence, arresting suspects according to the likes and dislikes of the security forces, detention and inspecting persons and places without reference from the law or the Penal Code rules.
 
Such government is the result of necessity, of the sheer imperative of survival. The greatest wrong with such a form of government, and its related institutions and laws, is that it can remain with wrong direction not to follow the country's ordinary law and order. But because of the past bitter experience, people want this non-political government to punish every corrupted people in Bangladesh so that, they cannot take control of the government again. They do not want the repetition of previous corrupt practices.
 
Legal experts observed the HC judgment could prove to be a severe blow to other corruption cases being placed under the EPR for trial rather using ordinary laws of the land. The government's law enforcement agencies or legal advisers should be able to comprehend so that the cases against real corrupted people can't be untenable.
 
February 7, 2008, New York
Ripan Kumar Biswas is a freelance writer based in New York
 

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