Plaintiff receives three-month prison sentence for filing false case

The plaintiff of a case has been sentenced to three months in jail for filing a false case in Cox's Bazar.

A local court has also ordered the plaintiff to pay Tk1,000 to each of the four accused as compensation and for failing to do so, the plaintiff will have to serve an additional seven days in prison, said court sources.

On October 28, Senior Judicial Magistrate Rajib Kumar Deb of the Chakaria Senior Judicial Magistrate's Court delivered the verdict. However, the plaintiff was absent when the verdict was given.

Public prosecutors said that the verdict is a good example of punishment for filing false cases and will discourage people from doing so in the future.

It will also help ease the case backlog in court, they added.

Mohammad Mudasser Murad, a teacher at Napitkhali Government Primary School of Chakaria upazila in Cox's Bazar, filed the case in 2010, alleging that Abu Bakkar stole Tk6,000 from him.

Along with filing the case, he also complained that Bakkar had physically assaulted him.

On September 30 this year, Judicial Magistrate Rajib passed an order, declaring Bakkar innocent.

The court also gave an order to the authorities concerned to take legal actions against the plaintiff, a doctor, and the investigating officer of the case. It issued a show-cause notice to the plaintiff, asking him to explain why action should not be taken against him, but the plaintiff failed twice to appear before the court.

Bakkar, who worked at Rajakhali Faizunnesa Government Primary School, was suspended after the complaint of theft had been filed against him and had to pull a rickshaw to support his family and cover the expenses of the case.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Advocate Shahidulla Chowdhury, also the president of Chakaria Bar Association, confirmed the matter to The Business Standard.

On September 30, the court additionally asked the authorities concerned to cancel the suspension order of Bakkar which had been issued by the Cox's Bazar primary education office.

Also, on that day, the court issued an arrest warrant against Mudasser and asked the Directorate General of Health Services to take action against Dr Md Saiful Islam, resident medical officer of Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital, for issuing a fake medical certificate that approved the claim that the plaintiff had been physically assaulted.

Bakkar told The Business Standard that he trained at the Cox's Bazar Primary Teachers' Training Institute along with Mudasser in 2006.

A friendly football match was held among the teachers at that time and based on a dispute during the game, Mudasser was locked in a debate with some teachers, including Bakkar.

"I was accused in a case filed by Mudasser in 2010 for no reason. This is a wound I have been carrying for a decade," said Bakkar.

"Our courts are overloaded with pending cases. False cases bring more suffering and harassment both for the court and justice seekers. Still, there is a trend in the country where people harass others by filing false cases," said Public Prosecutor of Cox's Bazar Advocate Faridul Alam.

Bangladesh had a backlog of 3,684,728 cases in all types of courts across the country as of December 2019, according to the Supreme Court administration.