Lohagara UNO, OC apologize for jailing man in custody

The High Court has exempted the Lohagara Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) and three police officers from personal appearance after they rendered unconditional apology over sentencing a man by a mobile court in October last year in Chittagong while he was in jail custody. The bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Md Ataur Rahman Khan passed the order on Monday. The court also asked authorities concerned to withdraw Officer-in-Charge (OC) Shahjahan from Lohagara police station. Lohagara UNO Md Mahbub Alam, also an executive magistrate, OC Shahjahan and sub-inspectors Helal Khan and Wasim sought an unconditional apology and gave an undertaking not to repeat such acts in future. Advocate Manzill Murshid said the rule issued earlier would be heard later. Earlier on Sunday, the four appeared before the court as per the summon order. During the hearing, they argued in favour of the case instead of offering an apology that made the court angry. On January 14, the court summoned Lohagara UNO and three others to appear before it on January 28 to explain why the jail sentence handed down to Md Belal Uddin of Adhunagar Sardarnipara under Lohagara through a mobile court should not be cancelled and why legal action should not be taken against the officials responsible. The court also issued a rule asking the UNO and three police officers to explain why they should not be directed to give Tk20 lakh as compensation to Belal Uddin. The home secretary, Lohagara UNO, OC and two sub-inspectors of the police station were made respondents to the rule.