Month: June 2022

A court has sentenced four people to life in prison in a case of beating to death of two brothers in Chattogram’s Sitakunda.

At the same time, they have been fined Tk 20,000 each and additional 4 months non-payment imprisonment.

Chattogram Fifth Additional District and Sessions Judge Ashok Kumar Dutta passed the order on Tuesday

Confirming the order, Public Prosecutor (PP) Lokman Hossain Chowdhury said that the accused were Abul Kalam Azad, Badsha Alam, Faruk Mia and Md. Sekander of Baro Aulia area of Sitakunda upazila.

According to court sources, on April 20, 2008, Harun and his cousin Zahidul were beaten to death inside a factory in Baro Aulia area of Sitakunda over establishing dominance and enmity.

Harun’s father Mohammad Ali filed a case over the murder at Sitakunda police station.

On September 18 of that year, the police submitted a chargesheet against the four, to the speedy trial tribunal.

The four accused were present at the court when the verdict was announced, said PP Lokman.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

A court in Chuadanga has sentenced a man to life in jail for killing his ex-wife’s mother some eight years ago.

Chuadanga district judge Zia Haider on Tuesday handed down the punishment to Atiar Rahman, son of late Sher Ali Mandal of Jashore’s Guatli village, and also sentenced four others to seven years in the case.

According to the case statement, Atiar married Josna Khatun, daughter of Abdul Quader of Azimpur School Para in Darshana municipal area of Damurhuda upazila. Later, they divorced.

In June 2014, Atiar, along with the four others, went to his ex-wife’s house and tried to abduct her.

When Tahmina Khatun, her mother, resisted the kidnap attempt, the five hacked her with sharp weapons, leaving her seriously injured. She was rushed to Chuadanga Sadar hospital, where doctors declared her dead on arrival.

On a complaint from the victim’s husband, an FIR for murder was lodged against the five at Damurhuda police station. And on October 31, 2014, investigating officer Mizanur Rahman submitted a chargesheet in the court against the five.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) Wednesday claimed to have arrested a wanted criminal from the district of Chapainawabganj Tuesday night.

The arrestee has been identified as Jahirul Islam, 38, son of Sadikul Islam of the Nandalalpur area in Chapainawabganj’s Gomostapur upazila.

Jahirul was arrested from the upazila’s Bagdanga lake area by a Rab-5 team, the elite force said. Two pistols, six bullets and two magazines have been seized from his possession, Rab said in a release.

The operation was led by Company Commander Ruh-Fi-Tahmin Taukir of Rab-5 on a tip-off, according to the elite force. The arrestee was wanted in a total of 13 cases, including theft, robbery and under the Explosive Substances Act.

A fresh case will be filed against Jahirul at the local police station.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

A 3-month pregnant woman who reportedly tried to commit suicide by setting herself on fire in the city’s Gulbagh area died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) in the early hours of Wednesday.

Meem Akhter, 18, breathed her last at the Burn Unit of the hospital around 5.45am, said Bachchhu Mia, in charge of the DMCH police outpost.

Meem’s husband Rummon said that he had an altercation with Meem on Friday night and she tried to commit suicide by setting herself on fire by pouring kerosene on her body Saturday morning.

Later, she was admitted to the Sheikh Hasina Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute with 95 percent burn injuries.

Police detained Rummon from the hospital after her death.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

The High Court (HC) on Wednesday stayed for two months the trial proceedings of three cases filed against photojournalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol under the Digital Security Act .

The HC bench of Justice ASM Abdul Mobin and Justice Md Atowar Rahman passed the order after hearing on Kajol’s petition.

Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua appeared for Kajol and deputy attorney general Sujit Chatterjee represented the state.

At the same time, the HC sought all the documents of these cases from the lower court.

The High Court also fixed July 28 for hearing on these appeals.

On February 1, barrister Jyotirmoy filed the petition with the High Court seeking a stay on the framing of charges against Kajol in the three DSA cases.

On November 8 last year, the Cyber Tribunal in Dhaka framed charges against Kajol in three cases filed under the stringent law.

Kajol went missing on March 10, 2020, a day after Magura-1 MP Saifuzzaman Shikhor filed a case against him and 31 others, including Manab Zamin Editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury.

They were sued under the act for publishing and sharing an article on various social media platforms about expelled Jubo Mohila League leader Shamima Noor Papia.

Two other cases were filed against Kajol at Kamrangir Char and Hazaribagh police stations, respectively, under the same act on March 10 and 11 last year.

After his 53 days of disappearance, Kajol was detained by Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) near the Benapole border on May 3, 2020, and produced in a Jashore court the same day.

Although the court granted him bail in the case, he was sent to jail as the Kotwali police brought another charge against him under Section 54 of CrPC.

On November 24, 2020, the photojournalist secured bail in another case filed against him under the DSA.

On December 17 that year, the High Court granted him bail in the remaining two cases filed under the DSA, clearing the way for his release. He was freed from Dhaka Central Jail on December 25 last year.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) have detained four members of a fraud gang from the city’s Mirpur and Motijheel areas.

The detainees were identified as the ringleader Md Helal Uddin, 51, and his associates Md Mofizul Islam alias Lebu, 47, Md Khandakar Maruf, 37, and Md Abdul Quader alias Raju, 29.

Tipped off, a team of Rab-3 conducted drives in the areas and detained them on Tuesday night, said Additional Police Super and Assistant Director (Ops & Int Branch) Bina Rani Das.

During primary interrogation, the detainees confessed that they embezzled around Tk 2 crore from around 50 job seekers alluring them of providing government jobs introducing themselves as policemen in last five years.

Legal steps will be taken against the detainees, the official added.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

At least two children have been killed every day with many more injured, nearly 100 days since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).

The UN agency Wednesday said most of the victims were from “attacks using explosive weapons in populated areas.”

The scale and speed of the emergency in Ukraine have not been seen since World War Two, Unicef said in a statement, which estimated that 5.2 million children there now need humanitarian assistance; 3 million inside the country and more than 2.2 million in refugee-hosting countries.

As intense artillery exchanges continue between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donetsk and amid reports that Russian troops now control much of the city of Sievierodonetsk, the UN agency said, almost two in three children in Ukraine have been displaced by fighting.

“Civilian infrastructure on which children depend continues to be damaged or destroyed,” Unicef added. “This so far includes at least 256 health facilities and one in six Unicef-supported ‘Safe Schools’ in the country’s east. Hundreds of other schools across the country have also been damaged.”

In addition to the trauma of fleeing their homes, children fleeing violence faced a significant risk of family separation, abuse, sexual exploitation and trafficking.

“These children urgently need safety, stability, child protection services, and psychosocial support – especially those who are unaccompanied or have been separated from their families. More than anything, they need peace,” the UN agency said.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has said that the High Court violated the constitution in hearing the case of the fugitive accused Dr Zubaida Rahman, wife of BNP senior vice chairman Tareq Rahman.

A full text of the judgment given by the Appellate Division was published on Wednesday dismissing the leave to appeal filed by Zubaida seeking dismissal of the case filed for acquiring assets from unknown sources.

The Appellate Division also declared Zubaida a fugitive.

At the same time, the High Court gave extra benefits to Zubaida violation of the constitution, reads the judgment.

On April 13, a four-judge bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique dismissed the leave to appeal of Zubaida and delivered a brief judgment.

The judgment was written by Justice Borhanuddin. Appellate Division Justice Md Nuruzzaman and Justice M Enayetur Rahim and the Chief Justice agreed with the judgment.

As per the judgement, the judicial court did not take cognizance of the charges against Zubaida in the corruption case. “Where the charges were not taken into account, how did she apply for dismissal of the case under section 561A of Code of Criminal Procedure?” asked the Appellate Division.

And when she filed the appeal without surrendering before the court, she was a fugitive in the eyes of the law. But a bench of the High Court has issued a rule suspending the trial of the case after hearing the plea of a fugitive, said Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan.

If a person or accused is a fugitive, he/she cannot file any writ, criminal case or any legal action except surrender. But the High Court has violated the law by giving more benefits to Zubaida Rahman, he added.

The Appellate Division further said all citizens are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection of the law according to Article 27 of the Constitution. Judges of the Supreme Court of the country have taken an oath to conduct justice without fear or bias. In any case, the judiciary must adhere to this principle. The judiciary will not set a precedent that does not apply to everyone.

ACC filed the case against Tarique, his wife Zubaida and her mother Syeda Iqbal Mand Banu accusing them of amassing illegal wealth and concealing information in wealth statements, with Kafrul police station on September 26, 2007. The accused later filed a petition challenging the legality of the case proceedings.

Later in the same year, the High Court issued a rule suspending the proceedings on the application of Jobaida Rahman.

On April 12 in 2018, the High Court gave its judgement dismissing the rule issued to dismiss the case. At the same time, Zubaida Rahman was ordered to surrender before the court within eight weeks.

Zubaida then filed a leave to appeal in the Appellate Division against the judgment of the High Court.

Lawyers say Zubaida, livimg in the UK, is a fugitive in the case and will now have to go to jail after surrendering. She will then be able to appeal for bail.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

The High Court (HC) on Wednesday granted six-week anticipatory bail to 35 Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) men including its president Kazi Rawanakul Islam Shraban and general secretary Saif Mahmud Jewel in separate cases filed by Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leaders over clashes at Dhaka University.

The court also asked them to surrender to a lower court within this period.

The HC bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md. Salim passed the order.

On May 22 and on May 24, the BCL leaders and activists prevented JCD men from entering the Dhaka University (DU) campus with processions, triggering clashes.

JCD leaders and activists alleged that at least 30 of their leaders and activists were injured in the attack by BCL men.

On May 22, police filed a case at Paltan Police Station and on May 27, president of DU’s Shahidullah Hall BCL Zahidul Islam Zahid lodged a complaint at Shahbagh Police Station against several named and unnamed JCD leaders and activists.

Source: United News of Bangladesh