No accused to be produced before courts in fetters: HC

The High Court on Monday asked prison authorities not to produce the accused before any court in fetters.
The bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice Krishna Debnath also warned Dhaka division deputy inspector general of prisons Tawhidul Islam and Dhaka Central Jail senior jail superintendent Md Jahangir Kabir against producing the accused in fetters.
The bench passed the order after the Tawhidul Islam and Jahangir Kabir apologised to the court for the production of four accused persons – Nasir Uddin, Habibur Rahman, Moniruzzaman Munna and Giasuddin – before the bench in fetters on February 23.
Earlier on February 23, the bench asked them to appear before it on Monday to explain why the accused were produced before the bench in fetters on the day.
The court said that it was astonished to see that the legs of the accused were in fetters inside the courtroom.
The four, detained in jail for over 10 years without trial in explosive cases, were produced before the bench in connection with its ruling issued suo moto on February 7 asking the government to explain why they would not be granted bail.
The bench set March 16 for passing its order on the ruling suo moto regarding the bails of the four.
Quoting jail document, the Supreme Court chapter of the state-run National Legal Aid Service Organisation said that 462 accused had been in the custody of jails for 5-18 years awaiting trial until December 2016.
The High Court moved to scrutinise the cases against the 462 people and to free the unfortunate people following prayers from the legal aid services organisation in this regard. 
The prisoners may be brought to the courts from the jails in fetters 
but fetters must be 
removed before they are produced before the judges, jail superintendent Jahangir Kabir told New Age following the High Court order.
The four people are members of banned Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh and they were brought to the court in fetters to ensure security, he said.

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