The High Court (HC) has summoned the investigation officers (IOs) of two cases -- one filed over the death of innocent Minu Akhter, who had served jail sentence instead of a convict named Kulsuma Akhter in a murder case, while the other was against Kulsuma.
The court ordered the IOs-- Khorshed Alam and Zubayer Mridha -- to appear in person before it on September 1 along with relevant documents and records regarding the cases in order to explain their roles.
The HC bench of Justice Jahangir Hossain Selim and Justice Md Atoar Rahman issued the order on Monday (August 16) during hearing of an appeal filed by Kulsuma and a petition filed by Minu seeking necessary directives.
The HC bench also summoned three lawyers from Chattogram’s Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal and lawyer assistant (clerk) to appear before the court virtually on September 1 to explain whether there was any fraudulent practices or whether they have any involvement in sending Minu to jail instead of Kulsuma.
The three lawyers are Public Prosecutor (PP) of the tribunal MA Naser and his junior lawyers Nurul Anwar and Bibekananda. The lawyer’s assistant is Md Sourav.
The High Court, however, wanted to see the inquest and post mortem reports of Minu Akhter, who unfortunately died in a road accident on June 28 this year, just 10 days after she was released from Chattogram Central Jail following an order issued by HC on June 7.
During the hearing, Minu’s lawyer Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir told the HC that he has doubts over the death of his client as the police has refused to give him the inquest and post mortem reports.
Lawyer Momtaz Uddin Ahmed Mehedi appeared for the lawyers of Chattogram while Deputy Attorney General Sarwar Hossain Bappi represented the state.
Kohinur Akhter, an apparel worker, was killed in Rahmatganj area in Chattogram city on July 9 in 2006 following an altercation over a mobile phone.
Convicted in the case Kulsum bribed Minu, a widow and mother of three, to go to prison in her place, and subsequently, innocent Minu served three years in jail instead of Kulsum.
