Editorial
Withdrawal of 'politically motivated' cases
Under no circumstances should criminals slip through the grip
AS disclosed by the law minister, the government is to review all the cases that it considers were instituted with a political motive, against political opponents, by past governments -- since 1971. And for this purpose, a 10-member high powered committee has been formed at the apex, with subcommittees in all the 64 districts, to review the cases in a bid to withdraw the ones found to be politically tainted. The initiative of the government sounds reasonable if it leads to setting the innocent victims free and reducing the burden of the courts and meeting the ends of justice and not an exercise for partisan purpose.
It is regrettable but true that the practice of harassing political rivals or those that were considered belonging to different camp or ideological leanings by involving him or her in a legal procedure has been a feature of all the governments ever since the birth of the country. We had also been pained to see innocent bystanders including school students hauled up by the thousands on the eve of a proposed strike by the opposition and charged under Sec 54. This has caused unnecessary hardships to many innocent people.
To review cases suspected to be politically motivated we feel is a fair position to take but there are several points that we want to make here. The government must be very careful not to use this exercise as a mechanism to let its party men out of the hook since in the recent past the 4-party alliance had indulged in similar initiatives and, reportedly, nearly 72,000 persons indicted in as many as 7000 cases were acquitted, among whom were many known criminals including rapists. And it must also be ensured that genuine culprits do not slip out along with the genuine victims of injustice.
The plan to restore the rule of law and reestablish justice and fair play can only be successful if the committees remain objective and non-partisan. However, we feel that the composition of the apex committee in particular will raise a question mark in public mind since it has no member from the opposition bench, not even any independent lawyer. A partisan group may repeat the error of the past -- which was to exonerate own people and condemn those of the opposition.
The focus must not be only on the cases instituted during the period of the BNP-Jamaat and the CTG regimes, as some home ministry insiders have suggested might be the approach. That, we are afraid, could only reinforce the apprehension that this might be a partisan-exercise for partisan purpose.
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