Two accused get bail after around a decade in jail
The High Court yesterday granted bail to two murder accused after they languished in jail for around a decade as their trials dragged on.
Mojibur Rahman, 53, of Mymensingh's Gauripur upazila was arrested on August 13, 2009 on charges of killing his wife and Sohel, 38, of Fulbaria upazila in the same district was picked up on August 15, 2007 on charges of killing his brother-in-law.
The HC granted them bail considering that the two were languishing in jail with little progress in the trials.
The HC bench of Justice AKM Abdul Hakim and Justice SM Mozibur Rahman gave the order after examining the documents of the two cases and hearing the statements of the accused.
The judges also set deadlines for the trial courts concerned to complete the trials of three other prisoners, who have been behind bars for about 10 years.
The three are Sanju, 37, of Mymensingh, Zinnat Ali, 42, of Faridpur and Sarwar Hossain, 50, of Patuakhali.
The trial courts were asked to complete the trial of a robbery case against Zinnat and Sarwar in six months and a murder case against them in one year, advocate Chanchal Kumar Biswas, a panel lawyer of the Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee, told The Daily Star. The lawyer placed the issues before the HC judges.
He added that the lower court would have to complete the trial of Sanju in a murder case in two months.
The five accused were produced before the HC bench yesterday as per its earlier order.
Quoting the jail authorities, sources in the Legal Aid Committee said 462 people were in jail, as their trials dragged on. Of them, the committee will provide legal assistance to 58, who have been in custody for five to 10 years.
The HC has so far granted bail to 18 people who had been in jail for over 10 years.
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