Flees from court, gets arrested, then does it again

A murder case accused, Shariful Islam, has escaped from police custody at a Dhaka court twice in 16 months, with the second time being while appearing in the case filed over his first escape.

His first escape took place on June 19 last year while being escorted to the lockup of the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court after Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court-3 of Dhaka held a hearing in the case filed over the 2018 abduction and murder of 14-year-old Jisan Hossain of Khilgaon.

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He allegedly struck a police constable before using a metallic object to loosen and remove his handcuffs, according to police. A case was subsequently filed against him with Kotwali Police Station for resisting lawful apprehension.

He was arrested on October 1 last year in connection with the escape, according to court records.

Yesterday, Shariful escaped from the dock of a packed courtroom after the police constable escorting him stepped outside. When the constable returned, he found that the 30-year-old accused had fled, while his handcuffs were still attached to the dock’s railing, police said.

Several hours later, police filed another case against Shariful, a resident of Horipur in Dinajpur’s Nawabganj upazila, on the same charge of allegedly resisting lawful apprehension.

“Shariful was produced before the court for a hearing in the case filed over his earlier escape. He was standing inside the dock after Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jamshed Alam concluded the hearing,” said Md Morshed Alam, in-charge of the lockup at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court.

The accused loosened his handcuffs while in the dock and fled the scene around 12:30pm, said Mohiuddin Mahmud Sohel, deputy commissioner of the Prosecution Division of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

Police constable Abdul Alim was suspended over the incident and a three-member committee has been formed to investigate the matte.

The committee has been asked to submit the report in three days, Sohel said.