HC orders database check to stop fake warrants

The High Court (HC) on Monday directed police to verify the authenticity of arrest warrants through the Central Data Management System before arresting anyone in a bid to prevent public harassment through fake warrants.

The HC bench also ordered the Inspector General of Police to issue a circular directing all law enforcement agencies to follow the procedure while executing any arrest warrant.

The HC bench comprising Justice KM Hafizul Alam and Justice Murad A Moulah Sohel issued the directives while disposing of a rule issued in 2013 following a writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.

In its observation, the HC bench said arresting a citizen without following the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure would be a violation of law.

It also observed that arrests based on fake warrants violate citizens’ fundamental and constitutional rights, and warned that caution must be exercised when filing cases and executing warrants to prevent harassment through the judicial process.

The HC bench also asked the registrar general of the Supreme Court to issue necessary instructions to lower court judges, including district judges, metropolitan sessions judges, chief judicial magistrates and chief metropolitan magistrates, to verify the identities of complainants and lawyers when complaint cases are filed.

The HC also directed that copies of complainants’ National Identity Cards and lawyers’ professional cards be attached to complaint case documents to facilitate identity verification.

An arrest carried out through a fake warrant violates a citizen's fundamental and constitutional rights, the verdict said, adding that preventing this falls squarely on all law-enforcing agencies.

The court stressed that greater caution is needed when filing cases and making arrests so people are not harassed through the legal system, as the resulting harm to citizens cannot be undone.

The Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB) filed the writ petition in 2013 amid reports of people being arrested and harassed using fake warrants.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Manzill Murshid, appearing for HRPB, told the court that Gulshan resident Arif Niazi was arrested from his home in 2012 on a fake warrant. An investigation later found that the warrant had been issued in connection with a fake case, he said.