Harassing and jailing innocent ones with false cases
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Enayet Rasul Bhuiyan
The Women and Children Repression Prevention (WCRP) Act, 2000 was hailed generally as a welcome addition to the laws in force in Bangladesh. None should protest the intended purpose underlying the introduction of this particular legislation : the protection of women and children who are particularly vulnerable in the population from cruelties and repression such as trafficking, rapes, acid throwing and other forms of physical and mental tortures. Given the rise in crimes against females and children and their apparent helplessness, the Act seemed justified and also the providing of rigorous punishments under it and the non bailable status of the ones charged under it except for the High Court. The Act, thus, was seen as a tough one designed to have a deterrent effect for its tough provisions.
It would have well served the purpose of prevention of serious offences against women and children, as its name implies, but for the fact that a well intentioned legislation is proving to be more a burden or a tool at the hands of manipulators or a section of people to harass and jail their targeted completely innocent persons. Using the provisions of the law that specially deny bail to those who are charged under it at the lower courts, these malevolent persons have been succeeding in jailing and harassing people who are not at all guilty for the alleged crimes. For example, let us consider the instance of a locally influential person who is seeking to grab a piece of land of his neighbour either through asking him to sell the land to him or using all kinds of unsolicited means of persuasion or intimidation to realize his greed. Such a rebuffed person can take revenge for the victim's lack of response to his design or to further his plans for grabbing that piece of land by starting a case under the WCRP Act.
He manages the local police station through bribery to get the owner arrested under the WCRP Act and since this would be a non bailable offence, the victim has no choice but to languish in jail for an indefinite period of time. The arrested person has recourse to bail from the High Court but moving a bail petition through the higher court also involves considerable time and resources and for no crime on his part he has to remain interned in jail for a long time.
A recent media report is noted where one person has finally come out of jail after nine long years on being finally proved that he was innocent. Not many of the targets of such misuse of the WCRP Act are resourceful persons and are mainly of modest means. They have neither the stamina, the knowledge or the spirit to endure such legal struggle ; they, therefore, suffer silently in many cases. And in most cases, the ones who start the cases under the WCRP Act are able to fulfill their objectives against the victims by taking full advantage of the internment of the latter. The jailed ones lose their freedom to face up to the deliberate designs of their tormentors. In so many instances, even the family members are entangled in the cases and made to suffer arrests that give the so called plaintiffs a completely free field to advance their mischief in a situation of no resistance whatsoever. The objective as cited here, the grabbing of a piece of land, can be all sorts of things ranging from even managing the internment of a rival suitor for marriage to eliminating a competitor from a local business opportunity.
The WCRP Act, 2000 was amended after its introduction to address these issues. It now directs the police not to arrest anybody just on the basis of an allegation but only after satisfaction that valid grounds exist for the allegation after efficient primary investigation. The directives are also there to the police to investigate such cases very carefully to ensure proper charge framing. Another amendment also recommends taking of due action against an investigating police officer in a case where the charge would be proved as not valid. But it does not specify what that action would be or who would take that action or when such action would be taken. So far, nothing has been heard about any police officer being prosecuted or sentenced for wrongfully conducting cases under the WCRP Act. The same can be said also about the plaintiffs in such cases ; they suffered nothing, not even a legal rebuke, after their allegations were proved not maintainable.
According to a recent press report, after the start of enforcement of this Act, 6800 cases under it out of a total of 7050 started within the span of a year, were proved to be bogus ones in the end but the interned ones had to suffer long internment before their release. In that year, police arrested some 25,000 persons in connection with these 7050 cases. Only against 800 persons the charges were sustainable. The rest or over 24,000 people suffered in jail for no fault on their part.
Thus, it is high time to go for a serious review of this legislation to remove the opportunities for its shocking misuse. Only exhortations in it to police officers to be careful or scrupulous in investigating charges under it, are not enough. New provisions must be added that would automatically lead to the investigating officer's automatic dismissal from service and suffering of specified jail sentences in a case launched after police investigation under WCRP Act which is finally proved to be untrue. The same sort of penalties through some years of rigorous imprisonment and heavy fines along with automatic enforcement measures of the same should be made a part of the WCRP Act with another amendment of it for the wrongful plaintiffs as well.
The Women and Children Repression Prevention (WCRP) Act, 2000 was hailed generally as a welcome addition to the laws in force in Bangladesh. None should protest the intended purpose underlying the introduction of this particular legislation : the protection of women and children who are particularly vulnerable in the population from cruelties and repression such as trafficking, rapes, acid throwing and other forms of physical and mental tortures. Given the rise in crimes against females and children and their apparent helplessness, the Act seemed justified and also the providing of rigorous punishments under it and the non bailable status of the ones charged under it except for the High Court. The Act, thus, was seen as a tough one designed to have a deterrent effect for its tough provisions.
It would have well served the purpose of prevention of serious offences against women and children, as its name implies, but for the fact that a well intentioned legislation is proving to be more a burden or a tool at the hands of manipulators or a section of people to harass and jail their targeted completely innocent persons. Using the provisions of the law that specially deny bail to those who are charged under it at the lower courts, these malevolent persons have been succeeding in jailing and harassing people who are not at all guilty for the alleged crimes. For example, let us consider the instance of a locally influential person who is seeking to grab a piece of land of his neighbour either through asking him to sell the land to him or using all kinds of unsolicited means of persuasion or intimidation to realize his greed. Such a rebuffed person can take revenge for the victim's lack of response to his design or to further his plans for grabbing that piece of land by starting a case under the WCRP Act.
He manages the local police station through bribery to get the owner arrested under the WCRP Act and since this would be a non bailable offence, the victim has no choice but to languish in jail for an indefinite period of time. The arrested person has recourse to bail from the High Court but moving a bail petition through the higher court also involves considerable time and resources and for no crime on his part he has to remain interned in jail for a long time.
A recent media report is noted where one person has finally come out of jail after nine long years on being finally proved that he was innocent. Not many of the targets of such misuse of the WCRP Act are resourceful persons and are mainly of modest means. They have neither the stamina, the knowledge or the spirit to endure such legal struggle ; they, therefore, suffer silently in many cases. And in most cases, the ones who start the cases under the WCRP Act are able to fulfill their objectives against the victims by taking full advantage of the internment of the latter. The jailed ones lose their freedom to face up to the deliberate designs of their tormentors. In so many instances, even the family members are entangled in the cases and made to suffer arrests that give the so called plaintiffs a completely free field to advance their mischief in a situation of no resistance whatsoever. The objective as cited here, the grabbing of a piece of land, can be all sorts of things ranging from even managing the internment of a rival suitor for marriage to eliminating a competitor from a local business opportunity.
The WCRP Act, 2000 was amended after its introduction to address these issues. It now directs the police not to arrest anybody just on the basis of an allegation but only after satisfaction that valid grounds exist for the allegation after efficient primary investigation. The directives are also there to the police to investigate such cases very carefully to ensure proper charge framing. Another amendment also recommends taking of due action against an investigating police officer in a case where the charge would be proved as not valid. But it does not specify what that action would be or who would take that action or when such action would be taken. So far, nothing has been heard about any police officer being prosecuted or sentenced for wrongfully conducting cases under the WCRP Act. The same can be said also about the plaintiffs in such cases ; they suffered nothing, not even a legal rebuke, after their allegations were proved not maintainable.
According to a recent press report, after the start of enforcement of this Act, 6800 cases under it out of a total of 7050 started within the span of a year, were proved to be bogus ones in the end but the interned ones had to suffer long internment before their release. In that year, police arrested some 25,000 persons in connection with these 7050 cases. Only against 800 persons the charges were sustainable. The rest or over 24,000 people suffered in jail for no fault on their part.
Thus, it is high time to go for a serious review of this legislation to remove the opportunities for its shocking misuse. Only exhortations in it to police officers to be careful or scrupulous in investigating charges under it, are not enough. New provisions must be added that would automatically lead to the investigating officer's automatic dismissal from service and suffering of specified jail sentences in a case launched after police investigation under WCRP Act which is finally proved to be untrue. The same sort of penalties through some years of rigorous imprisonment and heavy fines along with automatic enforcement measures of the same should be made a part of the WCRP Act with another amendment of it for the wrongful plaintiffs as well.