"often violate human rights" Mobile Court

Bangladesh Law Commission has found some gross anomalies in the mobile court act that lead to flawed trials run executive magistrates.

In a report on Tuesday, the commission said the Mobile Court Act 2009 that empowers executive magistrates to hold trials may become a repressive law if necessary remedial measures are not taken immediately.

The remedial measures include introducing new provisions for the offenders' bail, scrapping the existing provisions for filing appeals with deputy commissioners and sending offenders to jail if they fail to instantly pay the monetary fine imposed by the mobile courts, according to the report.

"Instant execution of sentence of imprisonment in case of the offenders' failure to instantly pay the fine imposed by the mobile courts very often results in violation of human rights," it said.

The provision on instant execution can be found in section 9 (2) of the Mobile Court Act 2009. However, there is no provision for bail in this law, the report said.

"As a result, important human rights like the right to liberty are trampled very often," commented the commission in the report prepared after examining the mobile court law.

Law Commission Chairman ABM Khairul Haque placed the report on Tuesday at a meeting of the parliamentary body on the law ministry and highlighted some important points in it.