Prisoners Under Trial: 462 languishing in jail for 5 years and more

Shipon, a 43-year-old man from Old Dhaka, had to languish in jail for more than 16 years in a murder case with little progress in his trial at a Dhaka court.

Arrested in 2000, he was finally released last month following a suo moto (of its own) order from the High Court.

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After a private TV channel ran a story on his plight, the HC on November 8 granted him bail and the Kashimpur Central Jail authorities released him on November 15.

Shipon came out on bail but many other under-trial accused have been kept in different jails for five to 18 years.

There are 462 such inmates in 58 prisons as their trial proceedings are yet to be completed, according to a report prepared by the prison authorities.

The office of the inspector general of prisons has submitted the report to the Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee (SCLAC) on December 7.

The SCLAC on November 16 sent letters to the authorities of all the 68 jails across the country, seeking names and particulars of prisoners whose trials have been going on for long, saying it would provide legal assistance to those who are not financially solvent.

An SCLAC official told The Daily Star that the committee will now study the report to select the under-trial prisoners who will be given legal aid.

The report shows that the highest number of such accused is in four Kashimpur jails with 87 prisoners. Of them, 57 are in Kashimpur Central Jail-2 alone.

The Chittagong Central Jail has 56 such prisoners, Cox's Bazar District Jail 31, Comilla District Jail 17 and Sylhet Central Jail 14. 

The number of under-trial accused kept in jails for less than five years is more than 55,000, jail sources said.

In Shipon's case, the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice JBM Hassan ordered the lower court concerned to finish the trial proceedings in 60 working days.

On December 4, the same bench set time limits for the lower courts concerned to finish the trial proceedings against four under-trial accused who have been in jail for 14 to 16 years.

The court granted bail to three of them and ordered the trial courts to conclude their trial proceedings in 90 days. The three are Makbul Hossain, Sentu Kamal and Billal Hossain.

However, it refrained from granting bail to another prisoner, Chan Miah, as he gave confessional statements before police and a magistrate in connection with the murder case filed against him.

The lower court, which has been running the trial proceedings against Chan Miah, was asked to finish the trial against him in 60 days.

The HC bench led by Justice M Enayetur Rahim, also the chairman of SCLAC, passed the order after hearing the statements of the four and examining their case documents.

According to a news report, Chan Miah has been in Kashimpur jail since 1999 in connection with the murder case filed with Shyampur Police Station. The case is pending with Paribesh Appeal Adalot (Environment Appellate Court) in Dhaka.

Makbul from Madaripur was arrested in 2000 in a murder case filed with Uttara Police Station. The case is now pending with Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court in Dhaka. 

Sentu from the capital's Motijheel AGB Colony area was arrested in 2001. He was produced before the Special Judge's Court-3 of Dhaka last month but the trial proceedings were not finished.

Billal Hossain from Comilla has been in jail since 2002. The case against him is now pending with Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court in Dhaka.

On November 30, the HC bench in a suo moto move issued a rule upon the government to explain why four under-trial female inmates at the Kashimpur jail in Gazipur should not be granted bail in the cases filed against them.

Sumi Akter Reshma from Narayanganj, Razia Sultana from Gazipur and Rani alias Nupur from Mymensingh have been in the jail since 2009 in three separate murder cases.

Shanaj Begum from Narayanganj has been in prison since 2008 in a killing case.