Architects of false cases remain untouched

Ekramul Ahsan Kanchan, a resident of Shantinagar, whose life became miserable in moving from one court to another seeking bail in connection with 49 false cases filed against him by a Pir syndicate, has finally got relief after filing writ petition with the High Court.

He filed the writ with the High Court on June 7 seeking its directive to look into the 49 alleged false cases filed against him by the syndicate.

In an order, the High Court expressed its surprise over the filing of 49 false cases by Rajarbagh Pir (saint) syndicate against Kanchan, allegedly after failing to grab his land.
"Just look at the reprisal of this Pir Shaheb. How a Pir syndicate is torturing and harassing ordinary people in the name of religion! When only one case can ruin the whole life of a person and they have filed this many cases against one person! This is a serious matter," the then HC bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman on September 12 in 2021 came up with the observations during the hearing on the writ petition filed in this regard.

Following the intervention of the HC most cases against Kanchan were cancelled, some were stayed while some are under trial.  
These cases were highlighted as the victim moved the court seeking remedy, but thousands of false cases are being filed in many ways to harass the opponent based on family, political or any other dispute.

In August last year, a Law Commission report said, "False, baseless and harassing cases filed in courts have become epidemic.

Because of this, many innocent people are being subjected to imprisonment, unnecessary harassment and various damages for no reason. The false cases are mainly filed under Code of Criminal Procedure."

A police research report has also brought up the issue of filing false cases. However, there is no accurate statistics on how many false cases are filed in the country.

According to the existing law, there is very little scope of punishing the false complaints by the court.
Besides, although the facts mentioned in the case in the final report are completely false, in almost all cases, the investigators do not apply to take action under section 211 with the final report.

As well as prosecution did not also play proper role in taking action against false accusers.

But, the defendants life became miserable as he wandered around the courts corridors in a false case. Victims of harassment do not get any remedy. False case complaints remain untouched.

However, the victim of harassment can file a counter-suit. But after suffering in the corridors of the court for a long time in a false case, there remains very little interest to get involved in a new case.

Legal experts opined that there is a provision of punishment in the law for filing a false case. It is a criminal offence. Section 211 of the Penal Code can take action against those who file a false complaint or file a case.

Besides, section 250 (1) and (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 of Bangladesh empowers the magistrate, to punish anyone who, in the opinion of the magistrate had filed a false and frivolous or vexatious case.

Section 211 of the Bangladesh Penal Code, 1860 states: "Whoever, with intent to cause injury to any person, institutes or causes to be instituted any criminal proceeding against that person, or falsely charges any person with having committed an offence, knowing that there is no just or lawful ground for such proceeding or charge against that person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both."

Apart from this, the aggrieved person can file a separate case as a plaintiff. Section 279 of the Police Regulations Bengal, 1943 provides that if a case is found to be maliciously false during investigation, the Investigating Officer shall apply to the Court for issue of process under Section 182 or 211 of the Penal Code against the plaintiff in the case.

Supreme Court lawyer Dr Shahdeen Malik said, "In 20 to 25 years ago, false and harassing cases were not a big problem. Now this trend has increased. A false case requires the plaintiff to pay damages all over the world. If the false and harassing case is proved, then action should be taken to compel the plaintiff to pay compensation."

According to a research report published by the police in 2022, there is no proper initiative of the police and prosecution in taking action against the plaintiffs of false cases.

Again, due to various reasons including workload, increase in the number of cases, lack of manpower, the court also grants fewer applications under section 211. Due to these reasons, the legal action against the false case complaints has become a paper rule in many cases.

The investigating officer does not want to take legal action against the plaintiff due to the desire to gain illegal benefits or the affront of the plaintiff-defendant.

In order to avoid the hassle of seeking legal action, the investigating officer sometimes gives false information in the report.

Studies have shown that false accusation cases result in wasted court time, financial loss and harassment to defendants.

Judicial proceedings are being disrupted in various ways. It is developing a culture of injustice. People are becoming disillusioned with the rule of law.

For the study, 15 police stations each from seven metropolitan areas and eight police ranges were selected. Data analysis of cases filed between 2010 and 2018 in these police stations.

In order to reducing false and harassing cases, the Law Commission in a report submitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs on August 29 last year said that false, fruitless and harassing cases should be discouraged while filing cases.

In case of accepting the complaint case, the maintainability of the case should be confirmed by verifying the complaint of the person who applied for the case (complainant).

In the case of a criminal case, if a false case is filed, the plaintiff must be prosecuted under Section 211 of the Criminal Code and speedy punishment must be ensured.

This will reduce the tendency to file false cases and reduce the number of cases to a great extent.

The Law Commission report said that it is necessary to reform existing laws, especially the Penal Code and the Code of Civil Procedure related to compensation, to prevent harassing false cases.

Necessary legal framework must also be put in place to provide adequate compensation to innocent persons who have been imprisoned due to filing of false cases.

On February 28 in 2022, in a verdict, a High Court bench also recommended the formulation of laws and rules related to payment of sufficient amount of compensation/expenses to the aggrieved party in case of false, harassing and frivolous civil suits and other cases.