High Court scraps jail sentence of wrongfully accused man, orders fresh ACC probe

The High Court has scrapped the sentence of Md Kamrul Islam, who was wrongly accused and sentenced to 15 years in prison for forgery of an SSC exam certificate on the basis of a probe by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

The court also ordered a fresh investigation in the case, while directing the authorities to take action against the ACC investigators for charging the wrong person with the crime.

kamrul islam

The case dates back to 2003 when the then Anti-Corruption Bureau accused him of using a fake SSC certificate to get admitted to college in 1998.

The chargesheet of the case was submitted 10 years later by the ACC and the verdict was delivered the following year.

The High Court ordered the ACC to consider compensating Kamrul if he lodges an appeal.

The rule in response to the writ petition of Kamrul challenging the conviction and seeking acquittal was also declared appropriate by Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman on Thursday.

Lawyer Minhazul Haque Chowdhury argued for Kamrul, while Md Khurshid Alam Khan represented the ACC.

“The order on the writ petition against the wrongful sentencing of Md Kamrul Islam was reserved for today. The court declared the rule to be appropriate after hearing both parties,” Minhazul said.

“The declaration regarding the rule means that the accused cannot be arrested on the basis of a warrant and cannot be harassed in any way.”

A fresh investigation can be carried out by the ACC, but should it fall outside the anti-graft agency's jurisdiction, other investigation agencies can initiate a probe as well, according to Minhazul.

ACC lawyer Khurshid said the error was a ‘bonafide mistake’ on the part of the investigation officer.

“The investigation officer made a bonafide mistake. The court ordered them to be put under observation. The commission will look into the details of the verdict. Authorities will definitely take actions against the investigation officer if his mistake is found to be intentional.”

In the previous ruling by the judicial court, the accused was shown to be a fugitive and was handed five-year prison terms under three separate provisions, totalling a 15-year term in jail. Additionally, he was fined Tk 30,000.

Kamrul later filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the verdict.