Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
A Chattogram court on Tuesday ordered the release of Hasina Begum put behind bars wrongly one and a half years back.
Additional Metropolitan Session Court-4 Judge Shariful Alam Bhuiyan passed the order on Tuesday noon, said bench assistant of the court Omar Fuad.
Hasina Begum, 28, wife of Hamid Hossain of Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar district, has been serving the jail term instead of real convict Hasina Akther, 42, in a narcotic case as law enforcers arrested her wrongly for the similarity of her name to the convict’s.
The incident came in the limelight on Sunday as defence lawyer Golam Mawla Murad drew the attention of the Judge of Chattogram Additional Metropolitan Session Court-4, Shariful Alam Bhuiyan, following a police investigation.
Defence lawyer Golam Mawla Murad told reporters on Tuesday that they are yet to receive the full verdict of the court.
Earlier in the morning, the jail authorities were asked to submit a report to the court saying Hasina Begum and Hasina Akther are two different persons, and Hasina Begum is not an accused.
Advocate Murad said, “No case was filed against Hasina Begum, now in jail. But she has been languishing in jail for the last one and a half years. Her only offence is the similarity of her name to that of the real accused. Their parents’ names are also different.”
Hasina Begum is the wife of Hamid Hossain of Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar district while the real convict, Hasina Akther, is the wife of Hamid Hossain of Ismail Hazi Bari of the same upazila.
According to the court, police recovered 2,000 Yaba pills from Moijjartek in Karnaphuli on February 24, 2017. A case was then filed in this connection.
Later, police arrested Hasina Akhter on February 25, 2017 in this connection. On November 27, Hasina Akhter secured bail from the court and went into hiding.
On July 1, 2019, Judge of Chattogram Metropolitan Court-5 Jannatul Ferdous sentenced six years’ jail to Hasina Akhter and fined Tk 5,000.
On December 26, 2019, police wrongly arrested Hasina Begum from Chowdhurypara Hossain Boro Bari in Teknaf in the case and she has been in jail since then, reports UNB.