Without trial, man spends 16 yrs in jail

He had been languishing in jail for more than 16 years without trial. He does not know where his family members are now as none of them have met him in prison. Even no lawyer appeared for him before the court.

Md Shipon, arrested in 2000 in a murder case, finally got bail from the High Court yesterday.

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The 43-year-old will remain on bail until the lower court concerned finishes the trial proceedings, said the bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice JBM Hassan in a suo moto order.

The bench also ordered the Paribesh Appellate Adalot (Environment Appellate Tribunal) to finish the trial proceedings of the case in 60 working days.

The trial court must settle the case within that time frame on the basis of existing evidence and documents if the prosecution cannot produce any witness, the HC ruled.

The bench ordered the district magistrate and social welfare officer concerned of Dhaka to rehabilitate Shipon on his application if he does not get any shelter after release from jail.

It also asked the legal aid office of Dhaka to furnish bail bond for Shipon and provide him with relevant legal support.

The HC observed that the state and the judiciary are responsible for ensuring justice quickly in line with the constitution, but they failed to do so in case of Shipon, and that's a shame for them.

Earlier in the day, the authorities of Kashimpur jail-2 produced Shipon before the bench following an earlier HC order.

The court asked Shipon where he will go after getting out of prison.

“I will go home,” he said.

In reply to a question, he said he has parents, six sisters and a brother but could not say where they are now. He could not specifically say his address; he only could say his home was in Old Dhaka. 

Shipon believes that his family members are alive, saying that he would have been informed if they died.

He was arrested on November 7, 2000, in the case filed with Sutrapur Police Station on October 25, 1994, on charge of killing one Mahtab.

The following year, police submitted a charge sheet against six, including Shipon, to the trial court.

Yesterday, replying to another query, Shipon said he heard about the killing, but he was not involved in it.

He said criminals chopped one of his hands after the killing. He, however, could not explain the relation between the two incidents. 

Following a report broadcast by a private television channel on October 26 about sufferings of Shipon in jail and not disposal of the case in 22 years, the HC on October 30 asked for the case records from the lower court and ordered the jail authorities to produce him before it yesterday to hear his statement.

Cumar Debul Dey, a Supreme Court lawyer, who placed the record of the TV report before the HC, told The Daily Star yesterday that some people from Sutrapur area phoned him recently and said they assumed that Shipon had already died.