5 HC directives to confirm a plaintiff’s identity
In the recent past, Ekramul Ahsan of Shantibagh in the capital, spent 1,465 days in jail for 20 “false” charge cases
The High Court (HC) has given five criteria as court directives to ensure the identity of a plaintiff when a complaint is filed or a statement provided at a police station or court.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman, issued the order on 14 June following the preliminary hearing of a writ petition. The full order was published on the Supreme Court website on Wednesday.
The criteria directives are:
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The plaintiff's National Identity Card (NID) or passport number has to be mentioned;
If a plaintiff does not have a NID card, he has to give the NID number of a person who can identify him;
If the NID card or passport is not readily available in special circumstances, the police officer concerned will take other appropriate measures to ascertain the identity of the complainant;
In a court or tribunal, if the plaintiff does not have a NID card or passport, the lawyer concerned will identify the plaintiff;
If the plaintiff is an expatriate or a foreign national, the passport number has to be mentioned.
Ekramul Ahsan, 55, a resident of Shantibagh in the capital, spent 1,465 days in jail for 20 "false" cases filed in 13 districts of the country on charges such as rape, beating, theft and human trafficking. There are 49 such "false" charge cases filed against him, using false names and addresses.
Ekramul filed a writ petition with the HC on 7 June seeking directives to find the plaintiffs of these "false" cases. On 14 June the HC ruled for a preliminary hearing of the writ petition.
The Additional Inspector General of the Criminal Investigation Department was directed to identify the persons involved in the harassment cases against the writ petitioner, and to report to the court within 60 days, taking the necessary legal action.
At the same time, the court directed that the NID card of a plaintiff be provided when a case is filed.
Senior lawyer Zainul Abedin and lawyer Emadul Haque Bashir appeared for the writ petition.
Deputy Attorney General Arvind Kumar Roy and Bipul Bagmar represented the state at the hearing.
