Justice delayed

Twenty-nine years after serving jail, two convicts in a cattle smuggling case were declared innocent by the High Court today.

Abdul Quader and Mofizur Rahman were freed from jail in 1989 after serving three years in jail for smuggling into cattle from India.

Among them, Quader is still alive while Mofizur has already died. The duo hailed from Jessore.

According to the case statement, the case was filed against the two with Sharsha Police Station in Jessore in 1986 on charge of illegally smuggling six cattleinto Bangladesh from India.

The case was filed by Lance Nayekof the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) Amir Ali.

A Jessore court in the same year sentenced Quader and Mofizur to five years' imprisonment in the case.

Later, the two convicts filed an appeal with the then HC bench in Jessore in 1987. They walked out of jail in 1989.

In the same year, the Jessore HC was abolished and case reached to the Dhaka HC since then the case remained pending with the court.

The Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee recently prepared the appeal for its hearing before the HC.

The HC bench of Justice RezaulHaque held hearing on the appeal yesterday and delivered the verdict todayacquitting the duo of the charge after allowing their appeal.

The SC Legal Aid Committeepanel lawyer Advocate Kumar Debuldey told the HC that the prosecution had failed to prove that Quader and Mofizurhas illegally smuggled the cattle into the country.

The lawyer told The Daily Star today that they have been proved innocent after they have walked out of jail serving their three years imprisonment 29 years back.

The case was pending before the HC for 29 years as the accused were not aware of the case and they did not peruse for its disposal, he said.