Sources said the courts concerned could not frame charges against the detained militants or start trials of at least a dozen cases as the jail authorities and law enforcement agencies did not produce the JMB leaders and activists before the court on scheduled dates.

Mystery shrouds the activities of the jail authorities and law enforcement agencies as they repeatedly failed to produce the accused militants including top JMB leaders Ataur Rahman Sunny and Enayetullah Jewel despite the court directives to produce them.

In some cases, 10 to 12 consecutive dates already passed without hearing as the accused militants were not produced before the courts.

Court sources said the courts repeatedly directed the jail authorities and law enforcement agencies to produce the accused, but the orders were not heeded.

"The courts cannot frame charges or begin trials of the cases as the jail authorities or other law enforcement agencies do not heed the courts' orders to produce the accused on scheduled dates for hearings," an assistant public prosecutor (APP) told The Daily Star seeking anonymity.

CHARGES AGAINST SUNNY COULD NOT BE FRAMED
Judge Mohammad Monzurul Bachhid of the Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court could not frame charges against JMB military commander Ataur Rahman Sunny and six others in two cases, as the authorities concerned did not produce Sunny before the court on five consecutive dates.

The cases -- one under the Arms Act and the other under the Explosive Substances Act -- were filed with Sabujbagh police station on September 8 last year.

Although Sunny was not produced before the court for trial of the cases, investigation officers (IOs) of other cases were quite able to take him on remand for interrogation before or after the scheduled dates for hearings of the two cases.

On January 30, Detective Branch (DB) of police produced Sunny before a court and took him on a seven-day remand in a case filed in connection with an explosion near Jatrabari foot over bridge on August 17 last year.

AMM Afsar Uddin, additional deputy commissioner (prosecution) of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court (CMM), directed the IO of the case to take necessary steps for producing Sunny before the court on January 31. But the order was not complied with.

The same court framed charges against Sunny and six others in two cases on April 20 and the trial of the cases began on June 5. The depositions ended in two days. But the hearings of arguments in the cases could not begin on the scheduled date of June 21, as the authorities concerned did not produce Sunny on that day. He (Sunny) was, however, produced before the CMM's court on completion of his four-day remand in connection with a sedition case filed with Kotwali police station.

CASE AGAINST JMB CHIEF'S SON
Another Dhaka court could not frame charges against JMB chief's son Nabil Bin Abdur Rahman, his brother Sunny and six others, as the jail authorities did not produce Sunny and Nabil before the court on nine consecutive dates.

The case was filed with Paltan police station under the Explosive Substances Act accusing Sunny, Nabil and six others of causing an explosion near Rajarbagh Police Lines in the capital on August 17 last year.

The court directed the authorities concerned to produce them on the scheduled dates for hearings but the authorities did not even inform the court whether the accused were on remand or in jail.