Shamima Chowdhury
Since the August Uprising and the fall of Sheikh Hasina government on 5 August, Bangladesh judiciary has turned into a vehicle of extortion and money making. Many lawyers in collaboration with a few police officials and a few activists of the BNP and Jamaati Islami parties and their associated youth groups are having heyday in extorting money from innocent people by filing false and fraudulent murder cases against their political rivals or family feuds, wealthy people and also thousands of supporters of the past government. Murder cases have been filed against nearly 300,000 people and Judicial Extortion has become the best business in today’s Bangladesh.
The Yunus government is fully aware of it. His newly appointed Chief Justice knows about it. His Law Adviser Asif Nazrul stated “ghost cases are common and at times it is embarrassing “ yet he did not issue any order to drop such cases.
Even during the past Awami League government, there has been ghost cases but number was limited. On those days, only police in order to extort money used to file ghost cases. But now under the Yunus government, the police, the lawyers, the political activists— all joined in a competition of extorting money by filing of ghost cases. The newly appointed DMP Police Commissioner SM Sazzat admitted that false cases are too many and wild. The nation’s chief police officer, IGP Baharul Alam disclosed that in a murder case where 2 or 3 people might have been involved yet the case included 1,300 as defendants basically to extort money. Bangladesh Home Adviser retired Gen. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury repeatedly declared that he would take strong action against those filing false cases. But till now this retired general failed to take any visible action. Neither he has taken any action against any perpetrator nor he could drop any false and fraudulent case. Critics argue that this government of NGOs are good in talking and assuring but truly unfit to take any corrective actions.
The Chief Justice who proposed to uphold justice and human rights was approached on the issue, yet he has not issued any order or verdict against accepting false and fraudulent cases, and imposing penalties for submitting false murder cases. Will he do it?
Even under the current highly controlled and restrictive media, stories of extortion in judiciary are coming out even in government supported dailies like the Daily Star or the Daily Prothom-alo. In Bangladesh, accreditation cards of thousands of journalists and reporters have been canceled and reporters are forbidden to publish any negative story. If they report, they are simply vanished or their media offices are close down. Currently thousands of households in Bangladesh are suffering or worried of extortion of money by the BNP-Jamaat political party activists in spite of the fact that their party leader Tariq Rahman has been warning his supporters not to get involved in illegal extortion.
During the past government, only a select group of police officials were involved in extortion but now this business is wild and pervasive. Student leaders, police, lawyers, political party activists plus other security forces are involved in extortion of bribes by abusing judiciary and police regulations. A hush-hush rivalry is reportedly precipitating among the security forces; those that are engaged in law enforcement, they are getting the opportunity of making extra money but others are being deprived of such golden opportunity. During the 2007-08 Caretaker government the security forces involved in civilian duties could make plenty of money through extortion. Here are few examples of judicial extortion .
Ms. Kulsum Akhter filed a false murder case against 130 individuals, none of whom she ever met or ever known yet she filed a murder case at the Metropolitan Chief Magistrate Court in Dhaka. She claimed that her husband Mohammed Al Amin was shot dead in Gazipur on 5 August, 2024 (Daily Star, 23 November). But her husband Al-Amin appeared before police and stated that he is alive and the murder case is false. He was never been to Gazipur. He was mostly working in Sylhet, 220 kilometers away from Gazipur. He further said, his wife and her two associates, in order to extort money filed such false case. His wife and her 2 associates reportedly extorted 17 lakh taka already from few people assuring them that they would drop their names from the case. It is reported that they charge taka two lakh from each for withdrawal of names from the case.
Anup Biswas, a Sub-inspector of police who was in an intensive care hospital at the time of a shot out on 19 July has been charged in a murder case of Ahmadul Islam (25). Ahmadul Islam’s father Md Baker (52) filed the case against 179 people whom he had never met or known. Out of these 179 people, 36 are police officials. The Daily Star report titled “Police extorting bribes from their own” (29 December).
It says a lawyer named Jashim drafted the list of defendants and FIR, and victim’s father just signed it. BNP activists gave the names and a BNP extortion racket charge 2 lakh from each Inspector, 1 lakh per Assistant Inspector and TK 50,000 from each Assistant Sub Inspector. The charges from non-police official is much higher.
In Sylhet, hundreds of false murder cases have been filed against people who were not even in Bangladesh at the time of July Uprising. The cases and list of defendants were drafted by some lawyers belonging to BNP and Jamaat parties without even consulting the victim’s family. The victim’s family has no idea who were these defendants and why their names were included. The price tag for bribe in Sylhet is much higher as it is the “home of expatriates” that live either in UK or USA. In one case, a former government supporter (do not like to be identified for fear of death), the extortion racket charged him Tk 15 lakh or $13,000 US dollars payable either in taka currency or in dollars. In another case, Advocate Meshba Uddin Siraj, formerly an Organizing Secretary of the ruling party, Awami League until 2016 was kidnapped by few Chatta Dal or BNP youth group members and they demanded him to pay Tk 50 lakh (US $ 42,000) for his release. Once his family paid them ransom, he was released. He is undergoing emergency medical treatment as he was severely tortured even his vein and nerves cut off. But police is reluctant to take their case.
Interestingly, in most of these false cases, even if the complainant, the accuser is willing to drop names from the case, they cannot. Police say, once they are listed, they cannot delete these names without higher authority’s clear instructions. Police further say, if their names are included in the murder cases, they will surely arrest them no matter even if the cases are totally false unless their superior authorities advise them otherwise. For fear of being arrested, many people have left the country or their residence and others are hiding from justice as fugitives. Leaving the country for abroad is not easy either. You have to pay enormous amount of bribes to every stakeholders; police, border guards, agents and other security forces for illegal border crossing.
In Kishorgonj, the Juganthor Daily reported (28 December) that false murder cases are being filed by scrupulous extortionists against law abiding people. For example, one Mr. Dulal Das (69) died of heart failure on 27 July 2024. His son Bikash Das and family took him to a hospital and the hospital issued certificate stating that he died of heart attack. Afterwards the family completed his burial.
But now an extortionist, Rabiul Alam, knowing that someone died, he picked up the issue. Rabiul is a Muslim extortionist, and in no way related to Dulal Das but he filed a murder case against 163 people claiming that Dulal Das was his relative and he was killed in a shot out during the Uprising on 5 August. He is also charging Tk 50,000 from each defendant for withholding their names. Learning that Rabiul, an extortionist has been collecting money in the name of his late father, Bikash Das went to the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court on December 2 and reported that murder case involving his late father Dulal Das is totally false and Rabiul is collecting bribes. The Magistrate heard the arguments but neither dropped the case nor punish the extortionist. No wonder, the judiciary is being abused to extort money. And these extortion is happening under the watch of Nobel Laureate Dr. Mohammed Yunus who talks nice but acts otherwise.
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