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Litigants suffer for halt in court functions

Case backlog feared to escalate


FE REPORT | May 17, 2021 00:00:00


Justice-seekers across the country are immensely suffering as regular functions of the courts remain closed for the rising trend of coronavirus infection.

Sources said hearing on the anticipatory bail petitions in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court has been suspended since the courts are running on a limited scale to curb the coronavirus onslaughts.

Even the justice-seekers are not able to surrender and seek bail from the lower courts for the same reason.

Virtual lower courts across the country are not entertaining the bail petitions filed by the accused against whom arrest warrant has been issued.

These courts are holding hearing on the bail petitions filed only by the detained accused or the accused produced by the law enforcers.

Senior jurist Khandker Mahbub Hossain said, "Many criminal cases are being filed every day in the country. Most of them are controversial. Many people are made accused in these cases only to harass them. These accused will face harassment by the law enforces as anticipatory bail hearing is stooped. If an initiative is not taken for hearing the anticipatory bail petitions in the courts immediately, a chaotic situation will arise."

Metropolitan public prosecutor Abdullah Abu said, "There will be a rush on the court premises if the authorities decide to open the surrender process. Then infection by the Covid-19 virus might increase. This is a global problem. All of us have to consider the situation. If the situation becomes normal then surrender process will begin again."

Lawyers think the closure of the regular court functions will also increase the case backlog in the courts across the country.

Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan, a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, said "Case backlog is an as usual crisis of the judiciary. But a new pressure will be created upon the courts for disposing of cases due to this unexpected lockdown."

All the courts in the country were declared closed for the first time in March last year due to the coronavirus outbreak. After that, the activities of the judiciary were completely stopped for about two months.

In the face of the demands of the justice seeking people and the lawyers, finally a law was enacted to launch the judicial activities through virtual process.

After enacting the law the first virtual court was introduced in the Supreme Court on May 10 that year.

Due to awfulness of the coronavirus situation, only a few virtual courts were kept functional initially.

Later some physical courts were also opened considering the interest of the lawyers following the health guidelines.

The court proceedings have been being conducted in both the processes for the last few months.

But the new slap of the coronavirus has changed the situation again. In the new situation the authorities have declared to run the court proceedings on a limited scale in the lower and higher courts only in virtual process.

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain on April 11 decided to run the court functions on a limited scale in the new lockdown period.

The Chief Justice formed one Appellate Division bench and some other High Court division benches to hear the urgent cases.

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