THE legacy of filing cases against hundreds of unnamed people, as has been by successive governments, including the authoritarian Awami League government, regrettably persists. After the Awami League regime was toppled in an uprising, it was expected that the abuse of legal devices would end. But the legacy, unfortunately, continues apace. In the recent examples, the police filed a case against about 1,200 unnamed individuals in connection with the clash that occurred in the secretariat area in Dhaka on July 22. The case was filed later that night. What appears absurd is the discrepancy between the number of protesters present and the number of the accused. There were hardly as many students at the site as the case suggests. The protesters stormed the secretariat demanding the resignation of the education adviser and the secretary for their failure to timely postpone the HSC and equivalent examinations scheduled for July 22. Their demand followed an incident on July 21, when an Air Force training fighter jet crashed into Milestone School and College at Uttara, killing at least 33 people, mostly students, as of July 24.
Despite urgent appeals from students and their guardians, the government initially ignored the call. It was only about 3:00am on July 22 that a release was issued suspending the examinations scheduled to begin at 10:00am that day. The timing was not only unreasonable but also emblematic of administrative apathy. What is further unacceptable is that instead of addressing the legitimate grievances of students, the authorities responded with sweeping legal action, filing cases against hundreds of unnamed individuals. Earlier, in the wake of violence in Gopalganj on July 16, triggered by an attack on a National Citizen Party rally and motorcade, the police lodged eight cases against about 8,400 unnamed individuals and arrested at least 321 people. Numerous reports have since emerged of harassment in Gopalganj, with even minors being detained and mistreated. Rights activists argue that such cases rarely contribute to justice. They, rather, serve to intimidate and harass ordinary citizens. It enables law enforcement to exploit the situation for personal or political gains it erodes public trust in the justice system. The long-standing practice of filing cases against a large number of unnamed individuals has thus become a mockery of justice.
The authorities need to recognise the harm caused by the misuse of legal instruments. Filing sweeping, baseless cases undermines the rule of law and does a grave disservice to justice. It is imperative that this infamous legacy of legal abuse is brought to an end and that the rights of citizens are duly respected.
