Graft trials stuck in stay

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It was late in the morning. Some people were having chitchat over the dos and don’ts of a trip to the riverside, forest or the hilly areas where the indigenous people live.

“You better go to the Gazni forest in Sherpur or Birisiri in Netrakona. From Gazni you can have a look at the faraway hills and you’ll see the marvellous beauty of the Kangso river and the Garo Pahar in Birisiri,” suggested one of them.

“Try to grab an opportunity to see the ghost in Gazni forest,” one passed the comment, while another protested, “Don’t waste your time! There is no ghost there! You can find countless such stories. But that place is really beautiful and worth going on a trip.”

This was the scenario of a special court office room on Monday where staffs from different courts gathered and were guiding a colleague for the next vacation.

But the irony is that even a few months ago the same staffs could not have a minute to relax due to excess pressure of graft cases. Most of them had to work even in holidays.

The scene at the special courts has just altered with everyone having plenty of leisure and almost nothing to do. This is because all the 10 special courts have only 33 cases pending with 89 cases already stayed by the High Court.

Though the courts had 122 cases till Monday for disposal, most of those have been stalled following HC stay orders.

The caretaker government set up the ten special courts after the launch of the anti-graft drive in February last year.

As many as 244 cases were sent to the courts for trial. Of those, verdict has been delivered in 122 cases, while most of the rest were stayed at different stages — some before charge framing, some after charge framing and others just before delivery of verdict.

The work pressure has been reduced so much that all the ten courts and their several hundred staffs now stay almost idle except for doing some routine work like signing daily attendance sheet and maintaining some documents and records.

Proceedings of 12 cases are on in the special court-7, while special court-8 has six, special court-9 has five, and special courts-2, 3 and 10 have two each. The special court-5 has only one case pending, while the special court-1 and 4 don’t have any case proceedings because of HC stay.

Though there are two cases pending with the special court-2, proceedings of one of those remained stalled as the accused, Awami League former minister Mohammad Nasim, is abroad for treatment.

Besides, three and two cases in special courts-4 and 6 respectively have been quashed by the higher court.

Of the quashed cases from special court-4, one was against former ward commissioner Chowdhury Alam, another against Swechhashebok League general secretary Pankaj Debnath, while the other was against former BNP lawmaker Harunur Rashid, Enayetur Rahman and Istiaque Sadek.

The cases quashed from the special court-6 were against Janakantha editor Atiqullah Khan Masud and several others.

Court officials say they have heard some of the pending cases have been stayed by the HC but cannot enlist those as stayed unless they get the official copy of the stay order.

Now it has become very hard for them to pass the office time from 9:00am to 4:00pm. Some of them chat, some read books, while some others even sleep on their chair.

“We had to work on the weekends even in the beginning of this year. But now the pressure has been eased and we can think of going on vacation besides enjoying the holidays,” says a court staff speaking anonymously.

Against this backdrop, the special courts were empowered to hear criminal cases a few months ago. But except two criminal cases — one against former premier Sheikh Hasina involving bribery and the other regarding Bashundhara group director Sabbir killing — no criminal case was sent to these courts.

Three cases against Hasina and two cases against another former premier Khaleda Zia were sent to the special courts. But all the cases have been stayed.

The national parliament complex turned into a hotspot after the special courts began functioning in May last year. Law-enforcers used to produce high-profile graft-accused before the courts every day with relatives of the accused, lawyers and journalists thronging the court premises.

Once the busy court premises now look almost abandoned and deserted.

A number of prosecution lawyers, however, say the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will initiate its move soon to vacate the stay orders and the cases will be back on trial again.

The situation has changed so much that many of the courtrooms were found locked during a visit to the court premises. Several makeshift tea stalls set up on the premises centring the special courts are now experiencing downfall in daily sale.

“My daily income has gone down to Tk 1,200 from over Tk 2,000,” said Delwar Hossain, a shopkeeper on the court premises.

“The number of visitors has been reduced significantly and my present income ranges between Tk 700 to Tk 800 instead of earlier income of Tk 1,500 a day,” said another shopkeeper who did not open his shop after Eid till Monday.

People related to the courts are now discussing possible shift of the special courts as the government has already declared parliamentary elections on December 18.

“If the election is held as per the declared date, the newly elected lawmakers will be allotted rooms at the MP Hostel. So the courts will have to be shifted either before or immediately after the election,” a court staff speculates.

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