HC stays withdrawal of 5 cops from posts

The High Court yesterday stayed a lower court order for withdrawing five policemen from their posts for producing a judge before the media without taking permission from a magistrate.
The stay order will remain in force until the disposal of a rule issued by the HC on Tuesday over the law enforcers' action of taking statement from the detainees in presence of the media, said the court.
In the rule, the HC bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik and Justice Farid Ahmed also asked the law enforcement authorities to explain why they should not be directed not to take any statement from the detainees in presence of the media.
Akil-Uz-Zaman, an apprentice lawyer, had filed the public interest litigation on Tuesday challenging the legality of the law enforcers' activity of producing the detainees before the media.
Earlier, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate MA Salam on December 6 had directed the IGP to take departmental action against the five police officials.
The cops jointly filed a petition with the HC bench yesterday seeking a stay on the lower court's order.
The five cops are Syed Nurul Islam, deputy commissioner (Ramna) of DMP; Mustafizur Rahman, officer-in-charge of New Market Police Station, and its three sub-inspectors Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, Shafiar Rahman, and Nur Hossain.
Advocate SM Rezaul Karim appeared for the police officials, while Deputy Attorney General Amit Talukder represented the government.
On December 1, the police officials produced Javed Imam, a senior assistant judge of Bhola District Judge's Court, before the media after arresting him near the capital's Eden College for allegedly carrying 342 bottles of Phensedyl in a microbus.
Following yesterday's stay order, the five cops will join their previous duty stations.