HC grants 6-month bail to man jailed instead of the true accused convict
Earlier, on 8 March, the High Court ordered a judicial inquiry into the incarceration of Manik Hawlader instead of Manik Mia, the person accused in the case
In a case of mistaken identity, the High Court granted a six-month bail to Manik Hawlader who was wrongly imprisoned in a drug case, instead of Manik Mia, the man who should have been convicted and imprisoned.
The High Court also ordered the district and sessions judge of Sirajganj to submit all documents of the case to the court.
The High Court bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Rajik Al Jalil issued the bail order on Monday after hearing a petition filed by the victim's wife, Salma Begum.
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Advocate Partha Sarathi Roy stood for the victim and Tushar Kanti Roy represented the state.
Both Manik Hawlader and Manik Mia are inhabitants of Bhedarganj upazila in Shariatpur district.
Earlier, on 8 March, the High Court ordered a judicial inquiry into the incarceration of Manik Hawlader instead of Manik Mia, the person accused in the case.
Following the HC order, Shariatpur's chief judicial magistrate submitted a report after investigating the matter.
In the judicial probe report placed before the High Court, it says that Manik Hawlader and Manik Mia are two different people, and there is no similarity in their names.
Victim Manik Hawlader has been in jail since he was arrested on 28 November last year in connection with the case.
According to case details, Manik Mia was the accused in a drug case filed with Salanga police station of Sirajganj district on 2 June 2009, and he was arrested in the case the next day.
He, however, secured bail from the High Court the same year.
But in bail documents, Manik Mia used the name and address of innocent Manik Howlader as his own. He also did the same in Sirajganj court.
On 11 February 2019, a Sirajganj court in its verdict handed a four-year jail term to each of four people convicted in the case, including Manik Mia.
But the fraud came to light only after Bhedarganj police arrested Manik Hawlader in the case, instead of Manik Mia, the true guilty party deserving imprisonment.
After that, Howlader's wife Salma Begum moved the High Court demanding her husband's release and damages.
