Only a competent court can scrap conviction: HC

There is no provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for suspending a conviction, unless scrapped by a competent court, the High Court ruled yesterday.

A conviction and sentence are not the same, the court observed, while hearing a petition filed by Barrister AKM Fakhrul Islam, seeking suspension of a conviction and sentence in a case filed against him in 2016.

The bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman rejected Fakhrul's petition.

Justice Enayetur Rahim said Fakhrul may move an appeal before the apex court for setting a principle or guideline over suspension of conviction.

Deputy Attorney General Farhad Ahmed said the HC observation will be applicable for all convicts including BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and Barrister AKM Fakhrul Islam.

Moreover, they [Khaleda Zia and Barrister Fakhrul] cannot contest the upcoming elections, as long as their appeals remain pending or unless scrapped by any competent court, he added. 

The Cyber Tribunal in Dhaka convicted Barrister Fakhrul, a lawyer for executed war criminal Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, sentenced him to 10 years' imprisonment and fined him Tk 10 lakh for leaking the draft of Salahuddin's verdict a day before the tribunal's judgment.

Soon after Salahuddin's verdict, on October 1, 2013, his wife and family members showed a copy of it to journalists claiming it was leaked before.

Later, the tribunal said a portion of the draft verdict was leaked.

On October 4 the same year, detectives filed a case with Shahbagh Police Station accusing Fakhrul, his assistant Mehedi Hasan, then office assistant of the tribunal Faruk Hossain and peon Nayon Ali, Salahuddin's wife Farhat Quader Chowdhury and son Hummam Quader Chowdhury and several unnamed persons under Information and Communication Technology Act, 2006.

On April 4 last year, HC granted bail to Fakhrul and stayed the fine imposed on him following his appeal against the conviction.