86-yr-old finally gets acquitted in arms case
Rabeya Khatun, an 86-year-old woman from Manikganj who had been visiting the Dhaka judge court premises for justice for last 17 years, has finally been acquitted in an arms case filed in 2002.
The High Court yesterday scrapped the trial proceeding against Rabeya, the woman from Samirpur village in Daulatpur upazila of Manikganj, in the case. The court also expressed dissatisfaction at the trial court judge and its assistant public prosecutor (APP) for their incompetence and negligence in properly handling the case.
The court told Md Al Mamun, judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Special Tribunal-2, and its APP Shahabuddin that the case against Rabeya had reached this level due to their incompetence and negligence, which is very unfortunate.
The HC bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Md Riaz Uddin Khan also asked them to be careful so that such incident does not take place in future.
The bench delivered the verdict after hearing a rule issued by this court earlier about cancellation of the trial proceedings against Rabeya.
Supreme Court lawyer Ashraful Alam Nobel filed a petition with the HC in April this year following a news report saying that Rabeya Khatun had been suffering as she needed to appear before the trial court in the connection with the case for the last 17 years.
Following the petition, the HC on
April 29 this year issued a rule asking the government to explain why the trial proceeding against Rabeya Khatun should not be quashed.
After hearing the rule, the HC bench yesterday scraped the trial proceedings of the case against Rabeya and acquitted her of the charges in the case.
The police allegedly arrested Rabeya Khatun with a firearm and six bullets from a residence of Garden Road area under Tejgaon Police Station on June 2, 2002.
Police filed a case against Rabeya and two others with Tejgaon Police Station on the same day.
On September 19, the same year, police submitted a charge sheet against Rabeya and another accused Zulhas before a trial court.
The trial court, on March 24 in 2003, framed charges against Rabeya and Zulhas but there was no progress of trial proceeding of the case. Detailed information about Zulhas could not be known.
After suffering in jail for six months, Rabeya was released from jail on bail.
Advocate Ashraful Alam Nobel himself moved the petition while Deputy Attorney General Harunur Rashid represented the state.
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