HC orders Tk 50 lakh compensation for ‘wrong conviction'

The High Court today released full text of its verdict directing the government to pay Tk 50 lakh in compensation to a man from Bhola for convicting him under a wrong law.

It also scrapped the jail sentence given by the trial court to the convict, Abdul Jalil, and ordered the authorities to release him from jail immediately if he is not accused in any other case.

Jalil was 15 years old when the alleged incident of rape took place in 2009, according to the charge sheet statement of the case.  But instead of trying him under the Children’s Act because of his tender age, he was tried under the Women and Children Repression Act applicable for adults.

Jalil was sentenced to life.

“This court feels that it is reasonable for the state side to give financial compensation to Abdul Jalil. Therefore, the court orders the state to pay Tk 50 lakh in compensation to accused Abdul Jalil for his life’s 14 years,” the HC said in its judgment.

Additional Registrar of the High Court Sabbir Faiz told The Daily Star that Abdul Jalil will be released after the jail authorities receive the copy of the verdict.

The HC authorities will now send the verdict to the trial court of Bhola and it will forward it to the jail authorities, he added.