SC halts HC order preventing arrest of people without specific allegations

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday imposed a stay order on a High Court (HC) ban that prevented the arrest and legal harassment of individuals not accused in a lawsuit.

A four-member bench, led by Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, issued the stay order after the state filed a petition challenging the HC move, said Attorney General Md Ruhul Kuddus Kajol at his office.

The attorney general was accompanied by Deputy Attorney General Mohammad Mehedi Hasan during the hearing. Senior Advocate Mustafizur Rahman Khan and Advocate AKM Fakhrul Islam, among others, were in favour of the writ petition, which had prompted the HC directive.

The Appellate Division also ordered the officials concerned to dispose of a HC ruling in this regard within the next four weeks.

Earlier, Justice Razik Al Jalil and Justice Debashish Rai Chowdhury of the High Court ordered that none can be shown arrested or harassed through other legal means if the person is not specifically accused in a lawsuit.

For executing the arrest, the name must be present in the first information report (FIR), the High Court had said in response to a writ petition.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Attorney General Md Ruhul Kuddus Kajol highlighted the HC directive’s drawbacks. Even after filing the FIR, police may find strong evidence or grounds for implicating additional individuals in any given lawsuit, but the HC order was preventing them.

Following the SC stay order on the HC directive, police can conduct investigation works smoothly and efficiently, the attorney general said.

HC ruling

The HC had also issued a ruling asking the authorities concerned to explain why it would not be declared illegal or beyond legal scope when the defendants and law enforcement authorities implicate a person, who was not included in the FIR, in a “false lawsuit of a serious nature” – only to harass, humiliate and repress the individual.

The HC further asked why an order would not be issued barring the arrest, detention and legal harassment of the petitioner if the petitioner is not specifically accused in a case.