A two-judge High Court bench yesterday delivered a split order in a writ petition submitted over "fictitious” cases filed against activists of the BNP and other political parties.

Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury, senior judge of the bench, in his order directed the inspector general of police to involve the investigation officers concerned in monitoring and enquiring into the alleged fictitious cases filed in Dhaka.

He asked for a report in 60 days and set December 17 for issuing further orders.

The judge also issued a rule asking the authorities concerned to explain in four weeks as to why filing of such cases should not be declared illegal and actions be not taken against the police officials concerned.

Justice Md Ashraful Kamal, the other member of the bench, summarily rejected the petition, saying it was not acceptable as the petitioners had no right or ability to move such a petition before the court.

Three pro-BNP lawyers, who are also accused in such cases, had filed the petition, seeking the court's directives on the government to form a probe body to investigate the legitimacy of the around 4,000 cases.

Now, the HC judges will send the petition along with their orders to the chief

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justice, Deputy Attorney General Ekramul Haque Tutul told The Daily Star. Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain will assign another bench for hearing and disposing of the petition, he added.

During yesterday's hearing, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam opposed the petition, saying it was filed on the basis of some newspaper reports that claimed fictitious cases had been filed against innocent people to harass them.

If the cases had been filed against innocent people, they would be cleared of the charges through investigations and would be granted bails by the courts concerned, he said.

The attorney general said if the police could not file cases, criminal proceedings would be hampered.

The writ petition is not acceptable, as the petitioners - three pro-BNP lawyers also accused in the cases in question - cannot become aggrieved by all criminal cases filed across the country, he said.

The attorney general also said the aggrieved people could move petitions before the HC for scrapping the proceedings of the cases.

In response, Khandker Mahbub Hossain, one of the petitioners, told the HC that around 10 lakh BNP men had been accused in arbitrary and fictitious cases filed across the country.

He said they filed the petition with the HC as a public interest litigation since it was not possible for all the accused to move before the HC. The petition was filed as a last resort so that police do not harass innocent people by filing such cases, he added.

On Monday, eminent jurist Dr Kamal Hossain appeared for the petitioners and said the cases were filed with political intentions and that it went against the constitution.

The allegations mentioned in the cases are almost the same, although they are ambiguous, he said.

During that day's proceedings, the HC had said the image of the police had been tarnished by the filing of such cases.

Along with Khandker Mahbub, lawyers Nitai Roy Chowdhury and Sanaullah Mia submitted the petition on September 23, saying 4,000 ficti-

tious cases had been filed across the country in September against leaders and activists of the BNP and other political parties.

The cases were filed in order to create panic among the men of the political parties ahead of the parliamentary election, said the petition.