Quick Disposal of Anti-Terrorism Cases: Special tribunals yet to be fully functional
The two anti-terrorism special tribunals formed last month for quick trial of militancy and terrorism cases are working at a snail's pace, thanks to only a handful of cases transferred to the tribunals and shortages of courtrooms and manpower.
The government on April 5 formed the tribunals for Dhaka and Chittagong through a statutory regulatory order. It ordered transfer of all cases filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2009 in the two districts to the respective tribunals within 30 working days.
As of May 22, different courts in Dhaka sent only 69 of around 2000 cases to the tribunal while the Chittagong tribunal received seven of a few hundred cases, sources said.
The Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal in Dhaka has to share a courtroom with the Speedy Trial Tribunal-3 due to shortage of rooms. The tribunal can only sit in the afternoon after the activities of the other tribunal ends.
The tribunal has a judge, a stenographer, a bench assistant and a driver. Public prosecutors for both the tribunals are yet to be appointed.
The tribunals would hold trials of cases filed under the act in metropolitan and district areas of Dhaka and Chittagong, according to the order.
As per the law, a judge of a tribunal shall conclude the trial of a case within six months from the date of framing of charges.
If the judge fails to conclude the trial by the time, the judge may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, extend the time by no more than three months. If the judge fails again to conclude the trial within that time, the judge may, after informing the High Court Division and the government in writing as to the reasons for such delay, further extend the time by three more months.
Counterterrorism officials and other law enforcers have long been advocating tribunals dedicated for militancy cases.
They have been saying that the trials would be quick, which in turn would help control the militancy menace.
According to counterterrorism officials and legal experts, some of the main reasons behind suspects getting bail are lengthy trial and probe processes.
Data of a Police Headquarters (PHQ) cell that monitor militancy shows 564 militant suspects managed to secure bail between January 2016 and September 2017. Law enforcers have no clue as to where nine of them are now.
A total of 908 militancy cases have been lodged under anti-terrorism act across the country between 1999 and September 2017, according to the database.
Verdicts have been delivered in only 12.44 percent of those cases (113 cases) while 619 are under trial and 289 are being investigated.
Abdullah Abu, metropolitan public prosecutor in Dhaka, said the trials of militant suspects used to stall as there were no special tribunals focusing on the cases.
Witnesses not showing up were also a reason for delays. “Not only civilian witnesses, sometimes policemen remained absent,” he said.
He added that trials of cases in courts across the country against the same suspect contributed to the delays.
“We are now hopeful as the special tribunals will only deal with militancy cases. So, it will solve the longstanding problems by completing trials by the deadlines,” he told The Daily Star recently.
The slow progress in proceedings of cases often creates opportunities for suspects to secure bail and go into hiding, counterterrorism officials claimed.
Monirul Islam, chief of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit of police, also hailed the tribunals.
“We are now hopeful about the quick trial and punishment of the dreaded militants, which would take us one step closer to stopping the menace in the country,” he told The Daily Star.
Although section 28 of the anti-terrorism act enacted in 2009 authorises formation of such tribunals, it took the government nine years to form the courts.