Multiple sentences cannot run concurrently without court order: HC

The High Court has ruled that sentences imposed in separate criminal cases cannot run concurrently unless the court clearly orders them to do so.

A bench of Justice Md Habibul Gani and Justice Sheikh Tahsin Ali issued the ruling on August 27, 2025, while rejecting a rule issued in a writ petition challenging the detention of a man convicted in six cheque dishonour cases. The full judgment was recently published on the Supreme Court website.

In the case, Md Nasir Uddin vs the State, the court ordered the convict to surrender before the relevant lower court within two months.

According to the judgment, Nasir Uddin, a Chattogram businessman, was convicted in six separate cases filed under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. He was arrested on September 5, 2021, and was later shown arrested in several other cases.

Nasir later filed a writ petition claiming that he had completed his sentences but was still being unlawfully detained. His lawyer argued that his time in custody during the trials should be deducted under Section 35A of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

However, the respondents argued that under Section 397, sentences in separate cases run one after another unless the courts specifically order them to run concurrently.

The High Court agreed, observing that time spent in custody during trial can only be deducted from the sentence in the particular case for which the accused was detained.

The court also directed that Nasir’s detention periods in all six cases be properly calculated and adjusted against the respective sentences under Section 35A.

-AJM