Cases, Investigation Reports and Bail

Both the rising number of cyber security-related cases and the increasing number of arrests made in the past years are deeply worrying. In most cases more than one person is being accused; consequently, there are more accused than the number of cases. But there is only one court (i.e., The Cyber Tribunal) for trying these cases and the number of cases settled shows that the government is not pro-active in settling the cases. The Cyber Security Court was established on July 28, 2013. As of February 2021, only 260 cases were settled. So far, convictions have been made in only 21 cases – 20 under the ICT Act and only one under the Digital Security Act. In 2020, the court dismissed cases against the accused in 125 cases; in 114 cases the government failed to prove the allegations against the accused. The protracted nature of the trial is a major weakness of the judicial system in Bangladesh, but this argument cannot be considered acceptable in this case, as many of the accused are detained without trial: the accused continues to face intimidation in the society as many of the cases are closely tied to politics.It is also worth noting that since the police can detain someone without a warrant, in many instances, the cases are being filed after the arrest. But after filing the case, the police are required to file the investigation report based on which the charge will be formed. The law stipulates that an investigation report must be submitted within 60 days. If necessary, the investigating officers can seek an extension of 15 days from the authorities. After 75 days, they will have nothing to do. It then falls under the jurisdiction of the tribunal. But over the last two years, we have seen that in many cases, even if the investigation report is not given within the stipulated 75 days, the accused is still in custody and effectively being punished before the trial. In this context, we must remember Mushtaq Ahmed, who was detained for 10 months after being arrested under the Digital Security Act and died in prison. Do we know how many are languishing in jails under these kinds of situations? Another thing that warrants our attention is the question of bail. Under the law 14 sections are non-bailable. However, in the case of any non-bailable law, a court can grant bail to an accused if it so desires. That is why many of the accused have been granted bail under this Act, while many have not. The issue has come to the fore in recent times because the court had rejected Mushtaq Ahmed’s bail application six times. However, the court has granted bail to several others in the same case. After Mushtaq’s death, one of the accused in the case, cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, was granted bail after 300 days in jail. There is a lack clarity as to why the court grants bail to some who are accused under the same section while some are denied, often repeatedly.