High Court directives on remand cannot be ignored

The remarks made by the High Court over lower courts repeatedly granting remand in the name of interrogation in the case brought against model Mariam Akter alias Mou should be followed by all concerned. On 1 August, police raided a house on Babar Road in Mohammadpur, arrested Mariam Akhter and recovered liquor as well as various types of drugs including yaba.

A bench of justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and justice KM Zahid Sarwar Kajal granted Mariam Akhter interim bail on 22 September after she filed a writ petition in the High Court, following repeated rejection of her bail plea by the lower court.

According to the Daily Star, full details of the High Court's verdict have been obtained, stating that lower court judges have disregarded the customary law and Supreme Court directives in granting remand. According to them, the work of judges (lower courts) was not normal and was contrary to criminal justice and proper investigation. It is unwarranted to waste judicial time and money in the name of remanding the accused. Judges need to be more careful in this regard. The court's observation further said that looking at the type and extent of the crime, it seemed that there was no need to grant remand to the accused thrice in 9 days.

Earlier, in the case of actress Pori Moni, the High Court had also commented, "Civilized society cannot run like this." The High Court sought clarification from two lower court judges on remand of Pori Moni thrice. The explanation given by the two judges in the first phase did not seem acceptable to the High Court.

There are many other examples of physical and mental torture of the accused when taken on remand in the name of interrogation in criminal cases. The 15-point directive of the Supreme Court on arrest and remand states that the police cannot arrest anyone under Section 54 for granting detention, the reason for the arrest must be stated within three hours, the detainee must be allowed to consult his lawyer and close relatives. If necessary, interrogation should be done in the special glass room of the jail by the order of the magistrate.

The accused’s lawyer and relatives may be present outside the cell, and if the investigating officer fails to get the information by interrogation in prison, the investigating officer may interrogate in police custody for a maximum of three days on orders of the magistrate. The person will have to undergo a medical examination before and after the interrogation.

In very few cases these instructions are followed. The High Court has asked why this is not followed. Remand has been and still is being granted arbitrarily during both the Awami League and the BNP tenure. Law enforcement can be overenthusiastic in this regard. But why should the judges approve the remand application randomly? They cannot ignore the law and the directives of the Supreme Court.

We hope that granting remand arbitrarily will be stopped after this directive of the High Court. There is no alternative to the rule of law and the protection of the rights of citizens.