Five years of unlawful incarceration!

And Jahangir languished in the jail till 2006 because the court order had not been sent to the jail authority at all, a situation we find not only abominable but also outrageous. This has not only caused dire stress on the family, it has also taken away 5 valuable years from the young man's life. As it is, our legal system has become an instrument of harassment for the members of the public, without such gross derelictions by officials ruining innocent lives even further.

In this instance we find that the 'peshker', the one responsible for dispatch of the court order, is at fault. We strongly feel that wherever he may be, he should be tracked down and brought to justice on charges of denigrating the image of the court by his gross negligence of duty. Having said that, was it not the duty of also the police to keep a tab on the progress of the case? Had they done so, the poor boy and his family would have been spared the misery.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

As it is, our judicial system is beset with innumerable problems of different dimensions. As much as this is not the platform for discussing those issues, however, the fact remains that there is no reason why it should not be possible to put a stop to such lapses on the part of the court staff.

Jahangir's is not an isolated case; there are perhaps many more Jehangirs languishing in the jails, crying out for justice. Would the government take a stock of cases of persons in unduly long period in custody due to inordinate procedural delays, to prevent the fate of Jahangir falling on others?