‘Wrong’ man in jail custody: HC summons ACC director, 3 others

Raj Ahmed of DOT
The High Court summoned the Director (law) of Anti-Corruption Commission and three other government officials to explain why one Jahlam was in jail custody for the last three years in place of the original accused in 33 cases, reported The Daily Star.
They will have to appear before the High Court bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahsan and Justice KM Kamrul Quader by February 3 10:30am. The three other officials have been named as informant and Anti-Corruption Commission director and the representatives concerned of the secretaries of the Law ministry and Home Ministry.
The bench passed the order in a suo moto (voluntary) move following a report published on the Bangla daily Prothom Alo yesterday under a headline “Wrong accused in jail in 33 cases: Sir I am Jahlam, not Salek.” Supreme Court lawyer, Amit Das Gupta, placed the news report before the High Court bench for necessary orders in this regard. The High Court judges issued the summons after going through the report.
The court also issued a rule asking the authorities concerned of the ACC and the government to explain why Jahlam should not be relieved of the cases in which he is not the original accused.
According to the Bangla daily Prothom Alo report, Jahlam, a jute mill worker by profession, has been serving time in jail in place of one Abu Salek. Abu Salek has around 33 cases filed against him, reports Prothom Alo. One of the cases was filed for misappropriating Tk 18 crore from Sonali Bank through forgery.
Jahlam will have completed three years in prison on February 6, next month. He was arrested from the jute mill where he worked in Ghorashal on February 6, 2016.