The High Court (HC) has expressed its astonishment over the involvement of a Pir behind filing 49 fake cases against one Ekramul Ahsan Kanchan, a resident of Shantinagar in the capital. The Pir and some of his close disciples harassed him for a piece of land situated in Rajarbagh Darbar Sharif area.
Expressing surprise over the incident, the High Court said, “Just look at the activities of a Pir in Bangladesh! How a Pir syndicate tortures innocent people in the name of religion! How they are harassing innocent people. Look at the disciples of the Pir that how they can do it for grabbing a piece of land! Where only a case can ruin the life of a person, there are so many cases filed against him by the Pir syndicate! This is a serious matter.”
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman made the remarks on Sunday (September 12) while hearing a writ petition filed in this regard. The court adjourned the hearing for a week, saying it would look into the matter seriously.
Advocate Emadul Haque Basir appeared in the court for the writ petitioner, while Deputy Attorney General Bipul Bagmar represented the state.
Victim Ekramul Ahsan Kanchan filed the writ on June 7 in 2021, seeking the higher court’s direction to look into the plaintiffs of these 49 fake cases.
Forty officials concerned, including the home secretary, the inspector general of police (IGP), additional inspector general of police (SB), additional inspector general of police (CID), director general of RAB, and DMP commissioner were made respondents in the writ.
On June 14, the High Court had asked the CID to identify the complainants of the fake cases and also directed the police to take a photocopy of NID of a complainant at the police station while filing the case.
The CID submitted its report. According to the court documents and the CID’s report, Ekramul Ahsan Kanchan’s ancestral house is situated just behind the Rajarbagh Dargah Sharif. The three-storey building was constructed on three decimals of land.
After Kanchan’s father Dr Anwarullah’s death in 1995, his mother, one brother, and a sister became murid (disciples) of the Pir.
The Pir took some parts of their land in the name of expanding the Dargah Sharif. However, Kanchan and his brother named Dr Kamrul Ahsan Badol did not agree to give up their parts of the ancestral land. The two brothers were persuaded in various ways, but could not be made disciples of the Pir.
As the Pir syndicate failed to take Kanchon under their control, they started filing false cases against him in Dhaka and different other districts.
The CID’s report further said that a total of 49 cases were filed against Kanchan in different districts, including Dhaka. Of these, 23 are GR cases and 26 are CR cases. The petitioner has already been acquitted in 15 GR cases and 20 CR cases. At present 14 cases are pending in the court. Of these, eight are GR cases and six are CR cases.
The cases were filed against the person under various sections, including human trafficking, torture of women, explosives law, attempted murder, fraud, forgery, preparation for robbery. The open and secret inquiry into the cases revealed that the plaintiffs, witnesses and so-called victims of most of the cases are associated with the Rajarbagh Durbar Sharif and the Pir.
Emadul Haque Basir, lawyer of the victim, said that his client has spent 1,465 days in jail in these cases.
Ekramul Ahsan Kanchan said, “I have been charged with heinous crimes like murder, rape, theft-snatching-extortion and human trafficking. However, so far the plaintiffs in these cases have not been found. I have also spent a long time in jail in these cases. In many of these cases, the court could not find a plaintiff and I was acquitted.”