Barguna court orders departmental proceedings against a police officer

Md. Sanaullah Riyad, Barguna :: A Barguna magistrate court has directed the superintendent of police to initiate departmental and disciplinary proceedings against the investigating officer(I.O), after finding that an allegation of seeking arrest warrant for a man who was already in custody at the time of incident on another criminal case.

In a strongly worded order, Senior Judicial Magistrate (SrJM) Md. Anwar Hossain observed that the investigation suffered from grave negligence and irresponsibility, resulting in the irreversible loss to the detained person and raising serious concerns about the fairness of the probe.

Earlier the magistrate court issued a show-caused notice to an investigating officer after the police sought an arrest warrant for a man in a case over allegation of engaging criminal activities under the Special Powers Act, 1974 at the Betagi Police Station, despite official records confirming he was in jail at the time.

The accused, Md. Saiful Islam alias Boni Amin was arrested in a case filed with Barguna Police Station on February 4, 2025 and remained uninterruptedly in jail custody until May 20, 2025.

The issue came under judicial scrutiny after questions arose over how a person in jail custody could have participated in the alleged offences.

On July, 2026, the court directed Sub-Inspector Md. Nazrul Islam of Betagi Police Station, the investigation officer in the case, to explain the apparent contradiction and issued him a show-caused notice. The investigating officer unconditionally apologized before the court and stated that he acted upon the misinformation of his source resulting in error and the error is a mere bona fide one.

But the court has observed that this is not a mere procedural irregularity but a fundamental defect that goes to the very root of the matter and warrants appropriate departmental action against the erring police officer.

The court directs the superintendent of police, Barguna, to personally examine the matter and initiate disciplinary proceedings against the police officer (I.O).

The matter has been listed for further proceedings on August 29 by which time; the superintendent of police (SP) of Barguna has been directed to file a compliance report before the court.