The High Court believes the authority of ordering remands one after another has been “abused” in a drug case against actress Shamsunnahar Smriti, popularly known by her screen name Pori Moni.
Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice KM Zahid Sarwar expressed the opinion on Wednesday during a hearing of a rule challenging the legality of the remand decisions, reports bdnews24.com.
At one point in the proceedings, Mustafa Zaman Islam, the senior judge, said the magistrate had abused the power of granting a remand order for the police to question Pori Moni for the third time.
“What material was present in the investigating officers’ petition that this remand was approved?” he said. “This cannot happen in any civilised society.”
Lawyer ZI Khan Panna and Pori Moni’s lawyer Md Mojibur Rahman represented the petitioners at the hearing. They were also accompanied by Syeda Nasrin and Md Shaheenuzzaman.
Ain O Salish Kendra, a human rights and legal assistance group, filed a self-initiated petition to question the continuous remand that allowed the police to interrogate Pori Moni in their custody.
Deputy Attorney General Abu Yahya Dulal and Assistant Attorney General Mizanur Rahman represented the state.
Justice Islam said the Supreme Court has guidelines on remand, but the magistrates are not following them. Panna then called for an order to follow these guidelines. The judge then said that Panna’s petition would be recorded.
Neither Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, nor the Appellate Division’s guidelines were followed during the remand order against Pori Moni, her lawyer Mojibur Rahman said.
Justice Islam said the High Court could examine the decision, call the remand record from the magistrate and ask them for a satisfactory explanation for their decision.
“If they fail to answer, we can respond that we are unsatisfied and call for an appearance,” he said.
A guideline could also be issued on how quickly a hearing date for bail should be set.
When the assistant attorney general noted that the hearing was regarding the remand decision and not bail, Justice Islam said: “We don’t want to issue a rule, but call a report. We want to ask what material led to the approval of the remand petition.”
“Why did the magistrate abuse his power? Was there a justification, after a four-day remand, to grant a third remand? We will ask the investigation officer to appear with the case docket.”
“If the investigation officer, without any material, submits a petition for remand, why did these two magistrates accept them?” he asked. “This must not happen.”
At this point, the assistant attorney general requested that the decision on the remand be made on Thursday. The court then set 2 pm for the time of the decision.
Pori Moni was arrested from her home on Jul 4 by the Rapid Action Battalion with an alleged stash of drugs and alcohol.
The actress had previously made headlines after accusing a businessman of raping her at a boat club in Dhaka. Following her arrest, Dhaka courts granted the CID three rounds of remand to interrogate her over the case. They also turned down bail petitions from her defence team several times.
Finally, on Tuesday, a Dhaka court granted Pori Moni bail until the chargesheet in the case was submitted. She was freed from jail on Wednesday.