Convicted, yet allowed to remain free

As unprecedented as it sounds, the High Court on Sunday upheld five years' jail sentence to a convict in connection with a narcotics case, but let him stay with his family.

After exercising the probation facilities, the High Court bench allowed convict Moti Matbor to stay with his family, instead of sending him to jail. But he has to comply with three conditions.

The conditions are: Moti must ensure continuation of studies of his daughter and son; take care of his 75-year-old mother; and he cannot not marry off his daughter (now 15 years old) until she turns 18.

The single bench of Justice Zafar Ahmed came up with the unique verdict after hearing a revision petition filed by Moti, challenging the trial court judgment that sentenced him to five years' imprisonment in the case.

However, the High Court bench warned the convict of imprisonment if he fails to comply with the conditions.

Lawyers termed the verdict unprecedented as it allowed the convict to stay outside the jail in order to go back to normal life.

Moti’s lawyer Advocate Mohammad Shishir Manir said the High Court delivered the verdict under the Probation Ordinance, 1960.

As per the verdict, the convict — now on bail — has to comply with the conditions for the next one and a half years. If he fails to do so, his probation facilities will be cancelled and he will have to serve the imprisonment, read the verdict.

The High Court bench also directed the probation officer concerned to monitor activities of Moti Matbor.

According to the case statement, police arrested Moti, hailing from Shuvadda area in Dhaka’s Keraniganj, with 411 yaba tablets on November 23, 2015. A case was filed with Kotwali police station in Dhaka the same day. On January 8, 2017, a Dhaka court sentenced Moti to five years' imprisonment in connection with the case.

Later, Moti filed an appeal with the High Court challenging the legality of his conviction. On July 9, 2017, the apex court accepted the revision petition and granted him bail, and issued a rule in this regard.

After concluding hearing on the rule, the court came up with the verdict on Sunday.