12-year-old boy accused in trafficking case
The High Court yesterday granted anticipatory bail for eight weeks to a boy aged about 12 in a human trafficking case filed in Cox’s Bazar.
However, the case statement written last year mentions that the boy is 22.
The court asked him to surrender before the trial court at the end of his bail.
The HC bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice AKM Zahirul Huq gave the order following a petition filed by the boy for anticipatory bail.
During hearing of the bail petition, the court observed that although the petitioner was yet to become a “man”, he had been accused in a human trafficking case.
Deputy Attorney General Md Sarwar Hossain Bappi told The Daily Star that the boy might be 12 or 13 years old. But in the case, the plaintiff said he was 22.
The boy’s lawyer Zaman Akhter Bulbul told reporters that the alleged incident of human trafficking took place in 2014 and the case was filed in 2018.
Nurul Islam, 42, a resident of Hajipara area of Ramu upazila, filed the case under the anti-human trafficking law with a Chattogram court on September 27, 2018 accusing six people including the child.
The trial court is currently recording witness statements, the boy’s lawyer added.
According to the case statement, Nurul was sent to Malaysia by a small boat on June 21, 2014 with the assurance of a well-paid job.
After some days, Nurul Islam was dropped at a jungle in Thailand. But then traffickers tortured him and demanded ransom from him.
After talking to him over phone, the boy and another accused took Tk 3 lakh in ransom from Nurul’s relatives. After a few days, Nurul Islam reached Malaysia where he was detained in 2017, according to the case statement.
After being in jail for a year in Malaysia, Nurul came back to the country and filed the case.
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