Govt to report to US on human trafficking
The government is likely to soon report to the US State Department
on developments in combating women and children trafficking. An inter-ministerial
meeting, held on Saturday to discuss human trafficking, decided to prepare
the report by July 15 after being threatened by the United States that
sanctions would be imposed. The report will include the measures that
have been taken by the government for combating trafficking and the
progress in rescuing the victims of trafficking, keeping the rescued
victims in safe homes, trial of the trafficking cases and arresting
the criminals involved in trafficking. In trying to press these governments
to deal urgently with human trafficking, the US is likely to impose
sanctions, including the withholding of all types of aid which are not
used for humanitarian or trade purposes.A presidential announcement
will be made about the sanctions, depending on progress in the fight
against human trafficking in these countries, said the report, which
contains data on human trafficking of 140 countries and was released
by US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington. New Age, 11th
July.
Ahsanullah
Master Murder Case
Thirty people, including a Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal leader, were on July
10 charged with killing Ahsanullah Master, Awami League lawmaker for
Gazipur 2, on May7. The Criminal Investigation Department, in charge
of the investigation, submitted the charge sheet before the Gazipur
court at around 10:15pm, 65 days after the incident. Only eight of the
accused named on the charge sheet have so far been arrested. New
Age,11th July.
Ctg
Arms Haul
Inconsistencies in the charge sheet in the country's biggest ever arms
haul in Chittagong continue to surface and are obviously more than the
one or two 'demerits' pointed out by lawyers. The numerous discrepancies
in the six-page charge sheet the investigation officer (IO) had submitted
on June 11 have prompted even the government counsel to doubt whether
proper punishments of the culprits can be ensured. A total of 39 people
stand accused in the sensational case. Apart from releasing three of
the 10 trucks seized without any magisterial order, discrepancies are
also found in the seizure list, the first information report (FIR),
the Myanmar-link of arms smuggling guessed by the IO, and inclusion
of witnesses and their statements. Public Prosecutor (PP) Abdus Sattar
was busy at his office yesterday afternoon in sorting out the loopholes
in the case. He was expressly 'unhappy' with the way both the first
IO Ahadur Rahman, then the officer-in-charge (OC) of Karnaphuli Police
Station, and the second IO, Assistant Superintendent of Police AKM Kabiruddin
of Criminal Investigation Department (CID), had handled the case. "The
discrepancies would not have arisen if the two senior police officers
had been extra-careful in handling this important case," the PP
told The Daily Star. He said, "Since inconsistencies are there
in the charge sheet, I am a bit suspicious of whether proper justice
can be meted out to the accused." The hearing on the charge sheet
is scheduled to take place on July 15 Thursday. Daily Star, 12th
July.
Non-deployment
of army in Dhaka-10 by-election
The High Court on 12 July asked the four top government officials to
show causes why contempt proceedings should not be drawn against them
for disobeying its orders for deployment of army in polling centres
in the by-election to Dhaka-10 constituency on July 1.The rule was issued
on Home Secretary Omar Faruque, Defence Secretary K M Ehsanul Huq, Prime
Minister's Principal Secretary Kamal Siddiqui and Acting Principal Staff
Officer of the Armed Forces Brig Gen Illias Iftekher Rasul. A division
bench of the High Court comprising Justice MA Wahab Miah and Justice
Zinat Ara asked the officials to appear in person before the court at
10:30am on July 24 to explain their causes on the matter. The day is
fixed for hearing. The High Court also asked the Election Commission
to submit a report within 10 days whether the army was deployed in all
polling centres as per the June 29 directives of the court. The
Bangladesh Today,13th July.
Criminal
law bill passed
The Jatiya Sangsad last night passed the Criminal Law Amendment (Amendment)
Bill 2004 in absence of the main opposition Awami League. Piloting the
bill, Law Minister Moudud Ahmed said amendment to the Criminal Law Amendment
Act, 1958 was necessary for effective handling of corruption cases.
He said the Anti-Corruption Commission Act was given effect on May 9
this year and a selection committee was now working on it. The amendment
to Criminal law act will remove any possibility of government interference
in the commission's functioning. Moudud regretted that lawmakers from
the main opposition, who had walked out of parliament raising the allegation
of distortion of history, remained absent during the passage of the
bill. Some Jatiya Party (Ershad) members and lone member of Krishak
Sramik Janata League, Bangabir Kader Siddiqui, were absent in the House
during the passage. Prothom Alo. 13th July.
SC
bar asks chief justice to re-form benches
The Supreme Court Bar Association gave a two-week deadline to the Chief
Justice for reconstituting the criminal and writ benches of the High
Court Division with capable judges for speedy disposal of the pending
cases
to prevent the plaintiffs from suffering unnecessarily. The first-ever
deadline came up in a resolution adopted at a requisition meeting of
the bar association .The meeting also decided to send copies of the
resolution to all Supreme Court judges. Expressing grave concern at
the "ever-increasing" number of pending cases, veteran lawyers
at a meeting said plaintiffs are not getting relief from the criminal
benches because of poor performance of the judges, while the few capable
judges available have been sidelined to insignificant benches. New
Age, 15th July.
Appoint
efficient judges or stop it
The Supreme Court Bar Association asked the chief justice to appoint
efficient judges to the High Court or stop appointing judges if does
not find competent people. The Bar members across the political divide
at a general requisition meeting took a resolution to that end and are
likely to submit a memorandum to the chief justice (CJ) on 16 July,
asking him to take the necessary step in two weeks' time. They will
send a copy of the memo to all Supreme Court (SC) judges.The Bar Association
accused the government of appointing judges more on political considerations
than on merit and competence. Daily Star,15th July.
Separation
of Judiciary
The government will seek four more months to fully implement the Supreme
Court (SC) directives on separation of the judiciary from the executive.
The government has already given instruction to the attorney general's
office for the fresh extension of the deadline, Law Minister Moudud
Ahmed told newspersons at his office yesterday in a climb down from
his earlier position. After the 18th extension of the SC deadline on
April 19 he said the government would comply with the court order by
the fresh deadline and would not seek any more extension. Daily
Star, 16th July.
Verdict
on tax case against Ershad
Judgement in the income tax corruption case against former president
HM Ershad will be passed on August 5. After hearing the arguments by
two sides yesterday, Judge Rezaul Karim Khan of the Special Court for
Dhaka Division fixed the date. Earlier the judgement of the case had
been adjourned after the defence lawyers submitted a time petition seeking
an adjournment. Ershad's counsellors had also filed a criminal appeal
with the High Court for transferring the case to some other court. In
the petition they stated that their client would not get justice from
the court. The High Court, however, had directed the divisional court
to dispose of the case. The Bureau of Anti-corruption filed the corruption
case accusing Ershad and three tax officials on July 27, 1992. Daily
Star, 16th July.
