The High Court on Thursday asked two lower court judges to explain the reason why they accepted the police prayer to remand actress Pori Moni for multiple times in a narcotics case.
The judges of Dhaka metropolitan court have been ordered to submit their explanations to the High Court in next 10 days.
The court also summoned the investigating officer of the case to appear before it on September 15 along with relevant documents to explain why he repeatedly sought remand for the actress.
The virtual High Court bench of Justice Mostafa Zaman Islam and Justice KM Zahid Sarwar Kajal passed the order after hearing a petition filed by the Ain o Salish Kendra over the matter.
The bench said it will also summon the metropolitan magistrates concerned who granted the prayers for taking Pori Moni in remand for second and third time, if their written explanation is found not satisfactory.
Besides, the High Court said there was potential abuse of power in the remand of the actress.
“Without proper reasoning, the IO demanded the remands and the judges even accepted it. This cannot go on in a civilised society,” the High Court observed.
“Remand is to be applied only in exceptional cases,” the court added.
ASK's lawyer ZI Khan Panna told the court during the hearing that its guidelines and directives have all been thrown out of the window in the manner by which the actress was placed on remand in three phases.
Pori Moni was arrested on August 4 following a raid by Rapid Action Battalion on her Banani residence in the capital.
A case was filed against her under the Narcotics Control Act the following day.
Following the High Court intervention, a Dhaka court finally granted bail to the actress on Tuesday and she walked out of jail the following day.
On August 22, Pori Moni was sent to jail after Criminal Investigation Department Inspector Kazi Golam Mostafa produced her in a court on the completion of a one-day remand, her third.
Judge Emrul Kayesh set September 13 for hearing her bail petition in the case. However, the actress subsequently moved the High Court, challenging the validity of the lower court's decision.
The High Court on August 26 issued a rule, seeking explanation as to why a lower court order fixing September 13 for hearing the bail petition of Pori Moni in a case under the Narcotics Control Act should not be cancelled. It also asked why the bail application would not be heard within two days.
