Law
Week
Bounty for arrest of Abdur Rahman, Bangla Bhai
The government announced a bounty for information leading to the arrest of Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, both accused of masterminding the August 17 countrywide blasts. Advertisements to this effect will be made from 12 September. They will contain 10 separate photographs, five each displaying different appearances of the two militant leaders, and contact phone and fax numbers and email addresses. In other developments, police in Narayanganj arrested three people with suspected links to serial blasts and a top leader of Kuwait-based Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) in city's Uttara area. Besides, three suspects in Satkhira gave statements to a magistrate, admitting their involvement in the near-simultaneous explosions. Government sources said posters containing photographs of Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai would be circulated soon.
The police headquarters sent a copy of the advertisement to The Daily Star last night. It requests the people to assist the law enforcers in tracing the two militant kingpins. It asks the people to contact the law enforcers if they had any information about the two. The ad said the identity of the informer will be kept strictly confidential and if their information translates into the capture of the militants they will be given a due reward. -The Daily Star, September 12.
HC also asks govt why contract won't be declared illegal
The High Court (HC) directed the government to stop gas payment to Niko and freeze all bank accounts of the Canadian oil company in Bangladesh. The court also asked the government to explain in six weeks why the Bapex-Niko gas exploration agreement should not be declared illegal. It also directed the government to submit within 15 days the six investigation reports of different committees--five on the two blowouts at the Tengratila gas field in January and June this year, and one on the agreement between the Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Ltd (Bapex) and Niko. The HC vacation bench comprising justices MA Rashid and M Fazlur Rahman further directed the government to submit in 45 days the report on the steps taken to realise compensation from Niko for the damage at the Tengratilla gas field.
The court has also asked the government to submit the names and particulars of the individual and corporate shareholders of both Niko Resources (Bangladesh) Ltd and its parent company Niko Resources Ltd. The orders came following a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by three human rights organisations, challenging the validity of the joint venture agreement of October 16, 2003, between the Canadian gas and oil exploration company Niko and Bapex. The government formed three committees for each of the blowouts on January 7 and June 17. The court sought the investigation reports of these committees filed on February 7, April 13, June 4, August 13 and 28, and September 3, which found Niko's operation and drilling responsible for the two rounds of blowouts. -Prothom Alo, September 13.
Date-expired items found at Bombay Sweets
A mobile court recovered huge amounts of date-expired food essence from Bombay Sweets and also found an unregistered herbal medicine factory in the city. The mobile court, led by magistrate Md. Rokan Ud Doulah, raided Grameen Pharmaceuticals in the Jatrabari area. The company produces 11 items of medicine that it brands as made with herbal ingredients. But it has permission for only two items. According to the literature on the medicine, they contain natural vitamins, blood Alkaliser, Neurogenital Stimulant, Digestive Enzymes, Vitamin A and C, Liver corrective, Cough Expectorant, Uterus Corrective, and Anar Plus Multi Vitamin. But the company could not show permission to produce most of these items. The court directed the Demra police station to shut down the factory and filed a case under the Special Power Act-1974. Later the court raided the factory of Bombay Sweets and Chanachur in Shyambazar. The court seized nearly one hundred sacks of Australian essence, whose expiry date was June 9, 2005. The essence is mostly used in the popular chanachur, the court sources said. The court directed the police to seize all of the chemicals, which the police were working on as of the filing of this report. -The Daily Star, September 12.
HC stays trial of Shamsur Rahman murder case
The High Court (HC) issued a stay order on the trial of journalist Shamsur Rahman murder case at a speedy trial tribunal in Khulna. A division bench of the HC comprising Justice Abdur Rashid and Justice Fazlur Rahman gave the order after hearing the petition submitted by Selina Akhter Lucky, the complainant and wife of the murdered Jessore bureau chief of the daily Janakantha. Earlier the complainant submitted a petition to the judge of the Khulna Speedy Trial Tribunal, which was holding the trial, to send the case back to the Jessore Judges' Court for security reasons. The judge asked her to obtain an order from higher court in this regard. A family source close to the slain journalist said the complainant is afraid of coming to Khulna from Jessore to attend the trial after receiving death threat from one of the accused, hailing from Fakirhat upazila of Bagerhat, who played a key role in the planning of the murder. -The Daily Star, September 12.
Tough bill against food adulteration tabled
The government introduced a bill in the Jatiya Sangsad, proposing several tough provisions against manufacturing and selling adulterated food. The bill piloted by LGRD and Co-operatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan proposed a fine of Tk 75,000 and one year's rigorous imprisonment (RI) for such offence for the first time. For the second or subsequent times of similar offences, the bill proposed a fine up to Tk 2 lakh and three years' RI as well as forfeiting of the shop or factory, including its machinery, to the government or to the local authority.
The bill titled Bangladesh Pure Food (Amendment) Act, 2005 will also empower the local government authorities to conduct anti-adulteration drives in their respective areas. It also proposed to establish "pure food court" and a "national food safety advisory council" to fight adulterated food in the market. The government is going to amend the Bangladesh Pure Food Ordinance, 1959 amid widespread media reports on manufacturing and selling adulterated food in the market. - The Daily Star, September 14.
Extortion cases against chief whip's 2 sons
Four extortion cases have been filed against the chief whip's sons Abdul Hamid Dablu and Akhter Hamid Paban, and six others. The owner and the director of Good Luck Real Estate Ltd and two others filed the cases with Ramna Police Station under the Speedy Trial (Law and Order Disruption) Act. The brothers and their accomplices equipped with firearms on September 9 went to the third floor of Motaleb Plaza mall in Paribagh and demanded Tk 10 lakh from each shop owner, the cases read. Otherwise, no shop owner will be able to run their business, the complainants added. Meantime, Dablu, president of shop owners welfare society of Motaleb Plaza, filed a civil case against the director and two others with the Court of Fourth Assistant Judge, Dhaka, seeking a temporary injunction. Judge Mohammad Mojibur Rahman after hearing issued a show-cause notice upon the three to explain why they would not be restrained by an injunction from taking possession of a few shops at the mall. -The Daily Star, September 14.
HR watchdog serves legal notice on PM
International Committee for Human Rights in Bangladesh, a US-based international human rights organisation, has served a legal notice on Prime Minister Khaleda Zia demanding an independent and impartial enquiry into all extra-judicial killings. Referring to the extra-judicial killings by the army during 'Operation Clean Heart', Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), Cobra and Cheetah, the notice said the ongoing gross violations of human rights by the government must stop forthwith. The notice served by Thomas T Keating on behalf of the organisation said, "as the prime minister and minister for home affairs, you are personally responsible for these crimes against humanity." The notice mentioned that justice should begin with an apology from the government including compensation to the victims and trial of the perpetrators in a court of law.
The notice also said 445 people have been killed extra-judicially as of August 31, 2004, during operations of the army and other law enforcing agencies. - The Daily Star, September 15.
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