‘Excesses by executive magistrates worrying’
Legal experts have expressed worries about the growing abuse of power by the executive magistrates.
Such incidents of abuse are taking place due to their ignorance of legal and judicial procedures and lack of proper training which is a very bad sign for the society, lawyers say.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Two recent incidents of excesses by executive magistrates have brought the issue to the fore again.
On March 5, Sherpur's Nakla Upazila Nirbahi Officer Sadia Ummul Banin sentenced journalist Shafiuzzaman Rana, Nakla correspondent of Bangla daily Desh Rupantor, to six months in prison on charges of misbehaving with the government official and her office staffers.
On March 14, Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazila Assistant Commissioner (land) Abdullah-Al-Noman Sarkar, along with his staffers, confined five journalists to his office for about 40 minutes and threatened to jail them following an altercation over recording video inside the land office.
The High Court in 2017 had declared unconstitutional the rules under which executive magistrates run mobile courts. However, they are still being allowed to conduct mobile courts following a stay order from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in 2018.
"They do not have the mindset for carrying out judicial duties. Whenever they get powers to conduct mobile courts, they forget their limitations under the law."
Barrister Hassan MS Azim, who moved cases against the rules under which mobile courts are run, said the executive magistrates are not trained to adjudicate disputes under the judicial procedures. Rather, they are trained to implement the orders of their superior officers, he added.
"They do not have the mindset for carrying out judicial duties. Whenever they get powers to conduct mobile courts, they forget their limitations under the law," Azim said.
Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan, a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, said, "Some magistrates are conducting mobile courts against adulteration of food which is good. But some others are abusing their power which has a very bad impact on the society."
Khurshid, also the editor of the Dhaka Law Reports, stressed the need for proper training of the executive magistrates immediately through the Judicial Training Institute to end abuse of power.
As the executive magistrates had been abusing power frequently, the HC stepped in on several occasions to seize their authority.
For example, the HC on December 6, 2022, ordered the authorities concerned to suspend Gopalganj Assistant Commissioner (Land) Mamun Khan from conducting mobile courts over fining one Liton Mondal after "illegally" seizing his dredging machine, destroying its pipes on September 10, 2022, and later uploading photos of the incident on Facebook.
The HC ordered Mamun to refrain from conducting mobile courts for six months and to return the dredger to Liton in seven days, and also issued a rule asking the government and Mamun to explain why his action should not be declared illegal.
On November 20, 2022, the HC directed the government to suspend Khagrachhari's Ramgarh UNO Khondker Md Ikhtiar Uddin Arafat from conducting mobile court for illegally sentencing two labourers on August 1 that year.
The HC also issued a rule asking the government and the UNO to explain why the conviction and sentence handed by him through a mobile court should not be declared illegal and why they should not be directed to give Tk 10 lakh in compensation to labourers Abul Kalam and Ruhul Amin.
The rules are yet to be heard and disposed of, court sources said.
On August 6, 2021, an HC bench ordered the government authorities concerned to provide training to the executive magistrates so they could conduct mobile courts properly and legally.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim (now a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court) asked Attorney General AM Amin Uddin to talk to the Cabinet Division secretary to take necessary steps.
"After going through newspaper reports, I have noticed that some executive magistrates conducted mobile courts for punishing offenders a few days after the crimes were committed, which is not allowed under the relevant law. The mobile court must hold the trial of the offense at the scene," Justice Enayetur Rahim said that day.
After holding three writ petitions, the HC on May 11, 2017, scrapped the rules under which executive magistrates run the mobile courts.
In its verdict, the HC observed that empowering executive magistrates with judicial powers is "a frontal attack on the independence of the judiciary and is violative of the theory of separation of powers", and said mobile courts could be run by judicial or metropolitan magistrates.
Following three petitions filed by the government, the Appellate Division on January 8, 2018, stayed the operation of the HC verdict until further order.
The hearing on the appeals is yet to be held.
Contacted, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin has earlier told The Daily Star that the executive magistrates are being provided training on a regular basis to run mobile courts properly.
Asked about abuse of power by executive magistrates, an additional secretary and a joint secretary (district magistracy) of the Cabinet Division refused to comment.
Another official concerned, speaking on condition of anonymity, told this newspaper that more emphasis is being given on the training of the field level officials so that the number of errors is smaller.
"It is quite natural that all field level officials cannot demonstrate the same level of skills. The administration officials are heavily criticised by the media for their small mistakes, but that doesn't happen in the case of other officials. About 1,000 officials of the ranks of UNO and AC [land] carry out duties at the field level. It is difficult to expect that all these young officials would work flawlessly," he said.
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