Long road to justice

The family members of Benarasi weaver Mohammad Arman, who was wrongly arrested five years ago, are counting the minutes for his release.

The 35-year-old man has been in jail for almost five years since the capital's Pallabi police arrested him in what officers said was a case of mistaken identity.

The High Court in a verdict on Thursday pronounced him innocent and ordered that he be released.

"We never thought it could take five years to get an innocent man released," Arman's mother Sohor Banu told The Daily Star after the verdict was announced.

She still shudders at the thought of her harrowing journey over the last five years.

After he was picked up, Arman remained traceless for five days. The  family members started looking for him at different offices of law enforcers and eventually found him being treated at Dhaka Medical College Hospital in police custody.

There, the family learnt that he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in a narcotics case.

"Pallabi police arrested my son because his father Yeasin was the namesake of a fugitive's father. That family also lives in Mirpur," Banu said.

After the arrest, police tortured Arman to get him to admit to a crime he never committed, she said, adding that police took him to the hospital after he fell unconscious.

Banu said she went from one office to another with the evidence proving that Arman was not the fugitive whose name is Shahabuddin.

Even the National Identity Card could not convince the police and the lower court, she said, adding that the family often faced threats from police.

Contacted, Sub-inspector Russell who was with the Pallabi Police Station at the time, said the detective, who investigated the case, should be blamed for the mistaken identity.

He added that the officer wrote in the chargesheet that the accused was named Sahabuddin alias Arman and his father's name was Yeasin alias Mohiuddin.

"We got the warrant from court and followed the names," said SI Russell, who now works at Mirpur Model Police station.

The Detective Branch on August 30, 2005 arrested Shahabuddin with 40 bottles of Phensedyl. He was released on bail on March 5, 2007 and he has since been absconding.

A special court in Dhaka sentenced Shahabuddin and two of his cohorts to 10 years in prison and fined them Tk 5,000 each.

But Pallabi police on January 30, 2016, arrested Arman after receiving a warrant from the trial court.

Before he got arrested, Arman was the breadwinner of his family at Bihari Camp in Pallabi. He used to earn Tk 6,000-8,000 a week. After he got arrested, his mother and wife had to work as house staff to feed themselves.

The legal battle cost the family around Tk 2.45 lakh. "We are still in debt of Tk 1 lakh," said Banu.

Arman's 12-year-old daughter Emi and four-year-old son are waiting to see their father.

The incident harks back to the ordeal faced by jute mill worker Jaha Alam, who was also wrongly arrested.

The HC directed the inspector general of police to give Arman Tk 20 lakh in compensation and ordered the IGP and Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner to withdraw four officers who worked at Pallabi Police Station during the incident.

The HC observed that the incident is a collective failure of the police department.