Police officer apologises to court for arresting innocent

A Dhaka court on Wednesday exonerated a police officer after he offered an unconditional apology for arresting an innocent man in a drug case. 

Arshad Ali, a sub-inspector of Brahmanpara Police Station in Cumilla, also told the court that he will perform his duties with utmost sincerity from now on.

Judge Abu Zafar Md Kamruzzaman of the Speedy Trial Tribunal 1 in Dhaka accepted his apology.

Earlier, the court also served two show-cause notices to Brahmanpara Police Station Officer-in-Charge Azam Uddin and Sub-Inspector Arshad Ali over the incident.

The policeman had wrongfully arrested Rajan Bhuiyan from his home on the night of October 18 this year.

While being arrested, Bhuiyan - a resident of Gopalnagar village in Brahmanpara - pleaded with the police that they might have been misinformed, but Sub-Inspector Arshad Ali arrested him anyway.

The accused, a man named Habibullah Rajan from the same village, surrendered before the court on November 6 and sought bail. The court then asked Habibullah to reappear before it on November 11. 

The court also granted Bhuiyan bail on November 11, after he served nearly one month in the Dhaka Central Jail. 

On May 9, 2012, a narcotics case was filed against Habibullah Rajan with the Bangshal Police Station after police confiscated 28 syringes containing drugs from him at the Nayabazar area of Old Dhaka.

Habibullah served 21 days in jail for that case. He got out the same year after court granted him bail. Habibullah regularly attended court hearings for a few months. 

The court then issued an arrest warrant against him on June 6, 2013.

More than six years later, Brahmanpara Police Station's Sub-Inspector Arshad Ali wrongfully arrested Rajan Bhuiyan and sent him to jail.