Wrong imprisonment of Jaha Alam: HC to deliver verdict on September 29

The High Court will deliver its verdict on September 29 on the suo moto (voluntary) rule issued over compensating Jaha Alam who suffered in jail for three years instead of the real accused in several corruption cases.

The HC bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice KM Kamrul Kader has recently fixed September 29 as it has said on February 12 this year that it will give the verdict any day.

The suo moto rule has been included in the cause list of the HC bench today for the announcement of the judgment on September 29.

The HC bench on January 28 last year issued the rule asking the authorities concerned of the Anti-Corruption Commission and government why they should not be directed to release Jaha Alam and to compensate him for his suffering in jail instead of the real accused.

The bench came up with the rule following a report published in the Bangla daily Prothom Alo on the day under the headline "Wrong accused in jail in 33 cases: Sir, I am Jaha Alam, not Salek."

The court issued the rule after SC lawyer Amit Dasgupta, now a deputy attorney general, placed the newspaper report before the HC bench for necessary order.

On February 3 last year, the HC directed the jail authorities to release Jaha Alam from jail immediately and accordingly he got released the same day.

On that day, ACC lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told the HC bench that the commission has made a mistake by accusing Jaha Alam in the cases. The commission has already submitted an application to the lower court concerned to exonerate Jaha Alam from the cases, he said.

In 2012, the ACC filed 33 cases against a number of individuals over misappropriation of Tk 18.5 crore from Sonali Bank. In 26 of the cases, Abu Salek, a businessman, was accused. But the ACC identified Jaha Alam as Salek. He was arrested in 2016 and sent to jail.