Humaira alias Nabila, one of the alleged planners of the August 15 attack in Dhaka’s Panthapath, is currently out on bail. Her bail was granted by the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court on Tuesday, and she was subsequently released from Kashimpur Women’s Jail on Wednesday evening.
The reason she was granted bail was because her name was not mentioned in the First Information Report (FIR) and she was a woman, according to Additional Public Prosecutor Taposh Kumar Pal of the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court.
Humaira is not the only suspected militant to be released on bail in Bangladesh. Earlier, militant Samiun Rahman, alias Ibne Hadan, a British citizen of Bangladesh origin was arrested in Dhaka on September 28, 2014. He was granted bail despite having fought for militant group Islamic State (IS) in Syria, and he promptly fled the country. He was arrested again in connection with a militancy investigation in New Delhi, India, on September 17 last year.
Lawyers have said that faulty charge sheets, the omission of names from FIRs, and missing witnesses were just some of the reasons militants were granted bail, despite the threat of them planning future attacks.
Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court Public Prosecutor, Abdullah Abu, stressed that the absence of witnesses on scheduled court dates was the main reason the trial proceedings of militancy cases stall, eventually leading to the accused being granted bail.
Not limited to civilian witnesses, police are also often guilty of failing to show up to submit statements. There are a number of instances where the investigating officer was absent in court despite the accused having been produced before it, he said.
Abdullah added that another major problem was that multiple cases against the same militant are often tried in various courts throughout the country. “This wastes time, as the accused cannot be produced at a court if he is already at another one on the same date.”
According to Police Headquarters, 920 cases were filed in connection with militancy as of October 2017. Among them, 619 cases are under trail, while the investigation is ongoing for 301cases. A total of 3,676 people have been arrested and police have submitted final reports dismissing 21 cases for various reasons. Meanwhile, over 500 suspected militants have been released on bail.
A number of police officials involved with the investigation of militancy cases expressed their frustration that despite significant effort to apprehend militants in the first place, many would return to militancy after getting out on bail. As an example, they mentioned Old JMB leader, Faruk, who attacked a prison van and snatched three militants from Trishal in 2014 after being released on bail. Faruk was later arrested in India in 2016.
Police have called for militants to be held in custody until the end of the trial, and Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit officials similarly expressed their concern about militants being released on bail.
“Militant activities cannot be controlled in any way if top militants get bail. In the past few months, many militants have gone into hiding after getting bail,” an official said.
Shafqat Munir, research fellow at Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS), also expressed his concern over the release of suspected militants on bail, and urged they be strictly monitored.
However, DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia assured that criminals out on bail are under surveillance, though he refused to comment on the issue of bail for militants as it was a matter for the courts.
“Militancy is not just a problem of Bangladesh. This is the world’s problem, and it is not going to end overnight. The talented and trained officers of our CTTC are working hard, as are other intelligence agencies,” he added.
CTTC unit chief and Additional Commissioner, Monirul Islam, said the organizational structure of militant organizations had been weakened by anti-militancy drives in Bangladesh, so there is less cause to worry than before.
“The energy of New JMB is no longer the same. Most of their top leaders have been killed or arrested, and we take action when we come to know about militant activities,” he added.
