JS body asks home ministry
A parliamentary committee yesterday asked the home ministry to explain why it had secretly released top listed criminal Bikash Kumar Biswas from jail without notifying the la
w enforcement agencies, said a source in the committee.
Before it came up with this order, it asked Home Minister MK Alamgir, who was present at the meeting at the parliament building, to explain Bikash’s release but was not satisfied with what he said, according to the source.
The sources also said the parliamentary body on home ministry recommended informing the law enforcement agencies before the release of any such detainees.
Presided over by Parliamentary Committee President Sayedul Huq, the meeting was attended by Home Minister MK Alamgir, committee members Mirja Azam, Mujibul Huq Chunnu, Sanjida Khanam, Safiqul Islam, Home Secretary CQK Mustaq Ahmad, Inspector General Hassan Mahmood Khandker, Inspector General of Prisons Brig Gen Ashraful Islam Khan and Rapid Action Battalion Director General Mokhlesur Rahman.
Sayedul Huq first raised the issue at the meeting. Committee member Mujibul Huq Chunnu then asked the home minister why the law enforcement agencies had not been informed before Bikash’s release, meeting sources said.
“Bikash was freed following legal procedures,” replied MK Alamgir, adding the criminal had been kept in detention for 15 years and that there was no reason for police arresting him again at the jail gate.
Bikash was freed from Kashimpur jail on December 14 but before his release none of the law enforcement agencies was informed in violation of a provision. Bikash was detained in 1997 by the Detective Branch of police.
Police representatives of the parliamentary committee at the meeting said a 2004 case linked with the killing of 11 people by torching a bus in front of Sheraton Hotel (now Ruposhi Bangla Hotel) would be disposed soon.
The committee asked them to take measures so that the case could not be revived as it considered that a conspiracy had been involved in implicating Juba League leaders Jahangir Kabir Nanok and Mirja Azam in the case.
Meanwhile, the parliament secretariat said the meeting discussed the role of the jail authorities in and also a report on exemption of prisoners given long term jail sentences or lifetime imprisonment.
Source: The Daily Star
