Dhaka: The High Court on Monday said the filing of fictitious cases against the leaders and activists of opposition parties tarnishes the image of the police and destroys their credibility.

An HC bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal came up with the observation during the hearing on a writ petition filed seeking investigation into ‘ghostly’ cases against the leaders of BNP and other opposition political parties, reports the UNB.

Placing the first information reports of seven cases before the court, Dr Kamal Hossain, a counsel for the writ petitioner, said charges in all the cases are identical and obscure and things seized from different spots are also identical.

Drawing court’s attention to the issue, he said, ‘Can you imagine that former Supreme Court Bar Association President Khandaker Mahbub Hossain has also thrown brickbats at police. The government is filing these cases out of political vengeance which is contradictory to the basic rights of the constitution.’

After observing the FIRs of several cases, the court told the state counsel that Khandaker Mahbub Hossain is a lawyer. ‘He was accused of throwing crude bombs at police. This is ridiculous.’

Mentioning that a criminal case has to be proved beyond any doubt, it said it is seen on many occasions that the incident is true but the case loses its merit due to the inclusion of political party leaders as accused.

At this stage, Deputy Attorney General Ekramul HaqTutul said Khandaker Mahbub Hossain is not only a lawyer but also a political leader.

In reply, the court said there is nothing wrong in doing politics by a lawyer and there was a time when lawyers were more active in politics.

Later, the court fixed Tuesday for passing an order after Attorney General Mahbubey Alam sought time.

According to the writ petition filed on September 22, the law enforcers have filed 3,736 cases against 313,130 BNP and other political party leaders and activists from September 1 till September 20. 

BNP Vice-chairman Khandaker Mahbub Hossain and Nitai Roy Chowdhury and its Law Affairs Secretary Sanaullah Miah filed the writ petition.