Mobile court can’t convict, sentence any detainee: HC

A mobile court cannot convict or sentence any arrestees or detained person for an offence, the High Court said in the full text of its verdict that had declared the sentencing a Tangail schoolboy by a mobile court illegal.

Cognisance of the offence has to be taken by the magistrate concerned instantly on the spot and lodgement of written complainant with the magistrate is not at all required, it observed.

The HC said, "There is no scope to convict a person under the [Mobile Court] Ain, 2009 who was apprehended or arrested or detained by the police prior to his trial that is before commencement of Mobile Court proceeding. And if anyone is convicted in the aforesaid manner, the whole proceeding of the mobile court will be vitiated and the order of conviction is illegal and without jurisdiction."

"----the magistrate who is empowered for holding a mobile court under the Mobile Court Ain, 2009 must take cognizance of the alleged offence instantly at the spot provided the same has been committed or unfolded in his presence and the said magistrate is also empowered to convict the accused and award the prescribed sentence to him if he pleads guilty", said the HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Ashish Ranjan Das.

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The judges also said, "It is true that Mobile Court Ain, 2009 provides for appeal against the judgment and order of conviction before the District Magistrate. But if malafide is found on the face of the record in a mobile court proceeding and the conviction is 'no-est' in the eye of law, then this court [HC] has every jurisdiction to interfere with the matter exercising power under Article 102 of the constitution."

Delivering verdict on a suomoto rule, the HC judges on October 18 declared illegal a mobile court verdict that sentenced Sabbir Shikder, a ninth-grader of Protima Bonki Public High School in Sakhipur, to two years' imprisonment for allegedly threatening a local ruling party lawmaker via Facebook.

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It also directed the secretaries of public administration and home ministries and the inspector general of police to withdraw UNO Mohammad Rafiqul Islam and OC Mohammad Maksudul Alam from Sakhipur and place them outside Dhaka division "for a fair investigation".

The HC acquitted Sabbir from the case and directed the chief judicial magistrate of Tangail to launch a judicial enquiry based on Sabbir's statement before it on September 27.

Following two separate petitions filed by Rafiqul and Maksudul, the Supreme Court chamber judge on October 26 stayed for four weeks a section of the HC verdict that ordered the government to transfer them.

Sabbir was sentenced to two years' in jail by the mobile court led by UNO Rafiqul reportedly under the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act for threatening the lawmaker via Facebook.

The Daily Star on September 20 published a report under the headline "Boy jailed for FB comment about MP".

Quoting the UNO and the OC, the report said UNO Rafiqul, also an executive magistrate, passed the order a day after police detained the boy following the filing of a general diary by Anupam, lawmaker of Tangail-8 (Basail-Sakhipur) constituency.

About the Daily Star reporting on this issue, the HC in the full judgment said, "These show the high journalistic etiquette maintained by the 'Daily Star' as well as the local correspondent in preparing and publishing the report. Further, considering the facts that the local correspondent made contacts on several occasions to ensure that he obtained the correct information and also took great care and showed commendable caution in reporting the news."