Frequent bails to miscreants and terrorists considering political and religious affiliations encourage crimes in the society, said the speakers at a workshop yesterday.
They said negligence of investigation officer, intentional passive role of public prosecutors, submission of fake documents in the courts and non-applying of courts' discretion are also responsible for granting easy bails.
The workshop on 'Law and practice relating to bail, administration of justice and areas of intervention' was organised by Power and Participatory Research Centre (PPRC) at LGED seminar room in the city.
The speakers comprising, jurists, public prosecutors, researchers, NGo activists and journalists suggested formation of a separate investigative cell in police stations and ensuring adequate securities for the witnesses for proper dispension of justice.
They said 'moving lawyers'
must be one of the sureties in cases like murder and rape and suggested imprisonment of the sureties or suspension of their bar membership for a specific period in cases of their failure to pay penalty of bail.
The speakers suggested increased salary and facilities for the prosecutors as there is allegation against them of taking bribe in moving cases.
Law Minister Moudud Ahmed said bail laws would be reviewed for necessary amendments if needed.
He said one should not be granted bail without a hearing from the other side.
Moudud also suggested a permanent public prosecution service.
He said because of weak investigation the conviction is very low.
Presenting the keynote paper Dr Asif Nazrul, professor of law department of Dhaka University, said out of 659 cases, 97 top terrorists including Subrata Bain and Tokai Sagar obtained bail in 512
cases.
He said out of 435 religious extremists including Bangla Bhai arrested before February 2005, 57 were acquitted of various charges and most of the others got bail.
Dr Asif said in May 1998, 41 extremists belonging to the Harkatul Jihad were given life imprisonment, but later all of them were given bail by the High Court.
Moderating the workshop, PPRC Executive Chairman Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman said the government has taken eight strategic agenda in the PRSP and criminal justice is one of them.
Terming the issue quite uncommon, he said it had never been researched before.
Law Commission Member Dr M Enamul Haque, Jurist Shahdeen Malik, Dhaka Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Abdullah Mahmood Hasan, Blast Coordinator Khandaker Abdul Mannan and World Bank Law Consultant Dr Syed Mynuddin Hossain also spoke at the workshop.