In the film Aynabaji (deception), the main character, Sharafat Karim Ayna (played by Chanchal Chowdhury), serves jail term on behalf of others in exchange for money.
Such incidents are not confined to cinema—one has actually occurred in Gazipur as well. There, a similar incident took place for just Tk 15,000. Although the accused in a Forest Department case, Sattar Mia, freely roams outside, a man named Saiful Islam has been sent to prison in his place.
The real accused, Sattar Mia, 45, is from Mothajhuri Talchala village in Kaliakair upazila. Saiful Islam, 30, who went to prison in his place, is also a resident of the same village.
According to local residents, on 9 September this year, Forest Department officials caught several people red-handed while they were cutting government-owned trees in the Fulbaria Range area of Kaliakair upazila. Several others managed to escape at the time. The Forest Department later filed a case against those involved.
Three months after the incident, on 7 December, the main accused, Sattar Mia, appeared in court. The judge accepted the charges and ordered that he be sent to jail. However, inquiries revealed that the person who was supposed to be in jail—Sattar—was freely moving around in his locality, while someone else had gone to prison in his place.
When this correspondent visited Talchala village in Fulbaria Union of Kaliakair upazila, Sattar was not at home. When contacted by mobile phone, he said he was in Maona for personal work. Court documents, however, indicate that he should be in jail at this very moment.
Further inquiries revealed that the person held in Gazipur District Jail under the name “Sattar” is actually someone else. While the prison records list the inmate as Sattar, the deception becomes clear when the photograph is checked. The person in jail is Saiful Islam, who went to prison in Sattar’s place in exchange for Tk 15,000.
Rohim Badsha, the father of Saiful, who is imprisoned under Sattar’s identity, said, “Saiful went to court on Sattar’s behalf in exchange for Tk 15,000, with the promise that he would be granted bail.”
Gazipur District Jail superintendent Mohammed Rafiqul Kader told journalists, “When the accused was admitted, he stated his name as Sattar, so we did not suspect anything. Later, after learning more, we conducted a biometric test and discovered that he was not Sattar but Saiful Islam. We have notified the court about the matter through an official letter.”