HC summons judicial magistrate over 3 identical confessions

The High Court has summoned Faridpur Senior Judicial Magistrate Mainul Islam as he took exactly the same confessional statements of three accused under Section 164 in schoolboy Antar murder case in the Nagarkanda area of the district.

Mainul Islam has been asked to appear before the High Court (HC) on October 8 to explain the matter.

An HC bench comprising of Justice M Inayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order on Wednesday, after hearing a bail petition of the accused in the murder case.

Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kajal, assisted by advocate Nusrat Yasmin, appeared for the bail applicant in the court. He confirmed the HC order regarding the summoning of the judicial magistrate.

During the bail hearing, Barrister Kajal told the court that on June 28, 2018 the senior judicial magistrate of Faridpur took confessional statements from the accused under section 164, all within three hours.

The confessional statements of the three accused were exactly the same, therefore this was not done according to the law, he said during the hearing. 

The HC then summoned Faridpur Senior Judicial Magistrate Mainul Islam to explain the matter. At the same time, it accepted the appeal of the accused for hearing.

Lawyer Nusrat Yasmin said that after Antar was abducted on the night of 7 June, 2018, he was strangled to death with a towel wrapped around his neck.

The Antar murder case is currently pending at the Faridpur Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal.

The tribunal denied bail to Azizul Sheikh and Ashraf Sheikh, two accused in the case, when they applied for bail. 

Both the accused applied for bail at the HC against the Tribunal's order, said Nusrat.