Can the filing of 'false' lawsuits be stopped? 

In mid-August, expatriate Azad was named a murder suspect for an incident that had occurred on 5 August. The problem is, he was already in police custody at the time, having been arrested on 23 July on suspicions of being a BNP activist. 

Azad secured bail on 8 August, according to a TBS story published on 30 October. Police said the matter would be investigated and once proven innocent, Azad's name would not appear on the charge sheet. 

But Azad's story is not a one-off case. Throughout July and August, a record number of similar cases were filed — many of which, after investigation, proved to be baseless. 

There is a difference, though. Before 5 August, the cases filed were mostly against BNP or Jamaat activists, along with those involved in the student movement. 

People who are involved in collecting and filing false cases — 'the brokers' — need to be dealt with. The Detective Branch is aware of who they are.

Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua

After that date, civilians, former government ministers, the prime minister and some who criticise the current interim government have become the new targets. 

TBS spoke to legal experts and former police officials to understand what allows these cases to be filed and if there are any preventive measures. 

Abusing the law for personal grievances

Under the legal system of Bangladesh, the classification of crimes falls under cognisable (this amounts to serious charges such as murder, rape, kidnapping, etc) or non-cognisable (such as theft, assault, defamation, etc). 

When a case is filed for a cognisable offence, the police are, in fact, bound by law to register it. "If the charges seem frivolous, the police can register it as General Diary (GD), meaning there will be cognisance of the case, but not a full case," said Muhammad Nurul Huda, former inspector general of police. 

Now, if a case is taken to the magistrate, who decides to treat it as an FIR (First Information Report), then there is no option but to treat it as such, he further explained.  

"After investigation, if the case is proven baseless or false, then it will be considered as such. The ones who filed the case will face punishment according to Section 211," Huda added.  

But when a case is filed, it does not necessarily mean immediate arrest. "Being named as an accused in the FIR does not mean the person will be arrested [by default], this is not said anywhere."

At the same time, if the police do not file the case, it leads to other problems. "The police are accused of affiliation or bias. It is a Catch-22 situation," said Huda.  

Speaking on the wave of cases filed during July and after 5 August, Huda said, "When these laws were made, people who were involved in filing the cases carried a moral standard, they were not liars." 

Veteran Supreme Court lawyer ZI Khan Panna told The Daily Star in late September, "It will be impossible to ensure justice for the real victims through cases that seem to be aimed at harassing people." 

Panna himself was also named in a murder case on 17 October. 

According to a TBS report, Panna responded by saying, "I object to being listed as number 94 out of 180 accused. If they were filing a case, I should have been the number one accused. This is clearly influenced by certain individuals."

After organisations called for immediate withdrawal of Panna's name from the accused list, the complainant Abu Baker, whose son had been killed during the July Uprising, arrived at the police station with a written petition to remove Panna's name. 

"I work as a labourer. Frequent phone calls are disrupting my work. My employer will fire me if this continues. I filed the case through BNP-Jamaat lawyers; you can assume what you want," Baker told the media. 

Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua, an advocate at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, cited a fragile state of  law and order, the vulnerability of the interim government, and people taking advantage of the situation as a cumulative reason behind the wave of "false cases."

"There are a few technical issues," said Barua. "Many of the families of the students do not live in Dhaka. Due to the internet shutdown, communications blackout and the chaos — even if the families wanted to, there was no way to find out what had happened [to their children]."

In such a time, if we are to study a few of these cases at random, according to Barua, it will show that "brokers" were behind these cases.

"They tell the families, 'where would you find the names [of the accused], I have it'. They share the list in exchange for money. Many police officers are also involved in this," said Barua. 

Furthermore, owing to the volatility of the state of affairs and an overwhelmed justice system, where cases are being filed with 300-500 names in the list of accused, how would it be possible to thoroughly investigate each of these names?

Then there are cases when 50 of those 450 names in the accused list are from Rangpur, for a case filed in Dhaka. "Then the investigating officer needs to go to Rangpur," Barua added. 

"There are cases when the same case is being filed under two different systems. For instance, two students were killed at New Market. One family filed the case at the New Market police station while the other filed it at the International Crimes Tribunal. These proceedings will take different forms," he explained. 

There is confusion in regards to where to file the cases as well.  

"The government does not have any measure or mechanism in place to tackle these cases from the very beginning, so there is no scope of check and balance," said Barua. 

"Additionally, people rushed to file the cases, believing if they do it later, they will be asked by the court why they delayed in doing so," he added.

How to prevent it? 

Stressing the unprecedented scale of the massacre in independent Bangladesh, Barua said that a big change is required. 

"There should be new strategies and new ways to ensure justice for the students, civilians and garment workers [injured or killed] in the massacre. It's their right," said Barua, 

He suggested eliminating or addressing the core causes behind the wave of "false cases." 

"People who are involved in collecting and filing false cases — 'the brokers' — need to be dealt with," he said, "The Detective Branch is aware of who they are."

Although it is unlikely for a country like Bangladesh to implement this legal framework because it requires funds, one example for point of reference is England. 

"The police station does not admit the case as FIR [right away]. England's Crown Prosecution Services look into it, and understand the case first. If they deem it eligible, only then it is sent to the court and only then it will be registered as an FIR," explained Barua. 

"Otherwise, the case is not sent to court. In that case, the accused are called in and given warnings."