HC dissatisfied as mobile court punishes man in police custody

The High Court (HC) today expressed strong dissatisfaction over the incident of sentencing a man to eight months imprisonment through a mobile court when he was in police custody last year.

A mobile court led by the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Lohagora in Chittagong punished Md Belal Uddin of Adhunanagar Sardernipra in the upazila on October 14 last year on charge of possessing two packs of cannabis.

Today, the HC questioned how the mobile court could sentence Belal to eight months imprisonment when he was in police custody since October 13.

UNO Mahbub, also an executive magistrate; Md Shahjahan, officer-in-charge of Lohagora Police Station; and two sub-inspectors Helal Khan and Wasim Mia today appeared before the HC bench as per the court’s January 14 order. But they could not place satisfactory explanation of the incident.

However, the HC bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Md Ataur Rahman Khan fixed tomorrow for passing an order on this issue.