SC registrar asked to probe latest forged papers
Another forged High Court order has been brought to the notice of the court that immediately called for action against those involved upon an investigation.
The fake order dated March 11 imposed a stay on Madrasa Education Board’s decision to nominate Akul Akher (Bachchu) as president of Narikelbaria Dakhil Madrasa at Ulipur in Kurigram.
Madrasa board’s Legal Adviser Kazi Mynul Hassan received the order from the madrasa’s Superintendent Rabiul Awal Sarker. Just by looking at the piece of paper, he doubted its authenticity as the names of the judges mentioned were wrongly spelled.
Two months later Mynul and Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Motahar Hossain Sazu approached an HC bench with the copy of the order to check whether it had ever been issued.
Examining records of the court, the bench of Justice Farid Ahmed and Justice Zafar Ahmed on June 14 confirmed that the order was a fake one and instructed the registrar of the Supreme Court to probe the matter and prosecute those involved.
The fake document submitted to the Madrasa board also contained false certification from the registrar office, said DAG Motahar.
According to the copy, the HC order was issued in response to a petition filed by advocate Kamruzzaman Salim on behalf of Rabbul Amin Sazu. The order copy has the Vokalotnama, a mandatory requirement for lawyers to conduct a case, attached to it but it was not signed by the petitioner’s lawyer.
Rabiul Awal Sarker, who had submitted the forged order to the Madrasa board, could not be reached by phone.
At least two such forgeries were detected at the HC and a Dhaka court in April this year and October last year.
The courts directed the authorities to take action against the criminals, but the network of the gang engaged in such crimes could not be broken, SC sources said.
One Saju Mia, who had been sent to jail on charges of torturing his wife for dowry, was released on a forged bail order.
But when the forgery came to the surface, a Dhaka court on April 4 sent Saju back to jail. It also issued a show-cause notice to Saju’s lawyer, Abdus Salam, asking him to explain why legal action should not be taken against him for submitting the fake HC order.
Earlier on October 26 last year, another HC bench led by Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik exposed a spurious HC order granting anticipatory bails to 21 charge-sheeted criminals in a murder case filed in Gaibandha. The court directed the SC authorities to unravel the forgery and the people involved in this.
“We suspect that a section of unscrupulous lawyers and their clerks are involved in this,” SC Registrar AKM Shamsul Islam told The Daily Star. The SC had identified some of them and filed a criminal case.
A few lawyers earlier served jail sentences for forging court orders, Shamsul added.
He, however, did not name any of the lawyers involved in forgeries and could not say anything about the development of the investigation ordered in the October 26 ruling.
About the forged HC order linked with a decision of the Madrasa board, board’s Legal Adviser Kazi Mynul Hassan said he strongly believed that Superintendent of Narikelbari Dakhil Madrasa Abdul Awal Sarker was involved in the forgery.
A gang often submitted fake court orders to the Madrasa board, he said, adding a section of board staff, some lawyers and clerks were helping them in preparing those documents.
“The touts can easily be identified if a thorough investigation is carried out,” Mynul said.
DAG Motahar Hossain Sazu said most of the court orders submitted to Madrasa Education Board were fake.
In a circular issued on March 2 last year, the apex court said it had observed that the accused were being released by lower courts on the basis of forged bail orders.
On receiving an HC bail order, lower court judges must contact the deputy registrar-6 and assistant registrar-11 at the HC division’s criminal section.
An accused, according to the circular, must not be released until they receive confirmation that the HC order is genuine.
Source: The Daily Star
