Rajib Kumar Deb

Stay of criminal proceedings refers to the issue of not proceeding with a criminal case until a formal judicial order reopens it because the matter is sub-judice or pending in another court. The concept comes into play especially when there is a pending civil litigation on the same subject-matter because it entails a potential risk of contradictory judicial decisions.

In Bangladesh’s criminal justice system, the admissibility of recorded materials e.g., First Information Reports (FIR), witness statements, confessions, medical reports, and post-mortem findings without examining their preparers is a nuanced legal issue shaped by statutory provisions, judicial interpretations, and procedural safeguards.

Revival of a criminal proceeding previously stopped under section 249 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (CrPC) involves important questions about procedural legality and judicial interpretation.

From the earliest periods of human civilisation, religion has served as one of the foundational elements of social identity and cohesion.

In a landmark judgment in Anis Miah v State, Criminal Appeal No. 6799 of 2011, a full bench of the High Court Division (HCD) deliberated on the “legal implication of confession made under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure [CrPC] by a child in conflict with law”. 

Political philosopher Charles de Montesquieu said, “In the state of nature...all men are born equal, but they cannot continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection of the law.