Two bodies formed to advise on withdrawal of politically motivated cases

The government has formed committees at district and ministry levels to make recommendations for withdrawal of cases filed to harass political leaders, activists, and innocent persons for political or other reasons.
The government will receive applications to withdraw political cases till December 31 this year.
Mohammad Abdul Momen, the senior secretary of the public security division of the home ministry, issued a circular in this regard today.
The district-level committee will be headed by the magistrate of a district, while the ministry-level committee will be headed by the adviser of law, justice, and parliamentary affairs as the president.
The superintendent of police (a deputy commissioner of police for metropolitan areas), and the public prosecutor (metropolitan public prosecutors for metropolitan areas) will be members of the district-level committee.
The additional district magistrate will be the member secretary of the district committee.
According to the circular, the district-level committees will receive the application for withdrawal of political harassment cases. The application must be submitted to the district magistrate with a certified copy of the charge sheet.
Within seven days of receiving the application, the district magistrate will send the application to the public prosecutor or metropolitan public prosecutor for an opinion. The prosecutor will provide the opinion within 15 working days of the submission.
Within seven working days of collecting the opinion of the prosecutor, the district magistrate will present the application in the meeting of the district committee, and if it appears to the district committee that the case has been filed to harass the accused, the committee shall make a recommendation to the government for withdrawal of the case.
Finally, the district magistrate shall send the recommendation, case statement, charge sheet, and information to the home ministry within 45 working days of the receipt of the withdrawal application.
At the ministry level committee, the senior secretary of the public security division of the home ministry, the additional secretary (law and order) of the home ministry, the joint secretary (law) of the home ministry, and a member from the law, justice, and parliamentary affairs (not of a level below the joint secretary) will act as the members.
The deputy secretary or senior assistant secretary or the assistant secretary (law-1) of the home ministry will be the member secretary.
The circular reads that upon receiving the recommendations from a district committee, the ministry-level committee will examine the recommendations and identify the cases to be withdrawn, prepare a list, and take steps to withdraw the cases.
The ministry-level committee will make a list of political harassment cases filed under the Anti-Corruption Commission Act-2004 as those cannot be withdrawn without a written order of the Commission as per the provisions of Section 10 (4) of The Criminal Law Amendment Act-1958.
For this reason, such cases should be identified and listed. The course of action in such cases will be determined later, the circular added.
Asked whether there is any limit in terms of how far back cases were filed when accepting withdrawal applications for cases filed, Abdul Momen, the senior secretary of the home ministry, said, “I do not know anything about it.”