It is utterly disappointing that, just a day after the High Court granted bail to Selina Hayat Ivy — the former Narayanganj City Corporation mayor who has been detained for six months in five “murder” cases — the police have now “shown her arrested” in several new cases. This is despite the fact that the authorities have yet to produce any credible evidence to justify her initial arrest, let alone her prolonged detention. The clear intent appears to be to keep her imprisoned for the forseeable future: as soon as she secures bail in one set of cases, new fabricated ones are filed to keep her behind bars. It would not be surprising that this is being done simply to prevent her taking part in the national elections.

This is a blatant abuse of the criminal justice system. It is shameful that no senior government official, nor any high-ranking member of the police or judiciary, has had the courage to condemn this or put a stop to it.

No individual should be arrested in connection with the July protest murder cases unless there is:

– photographic, video, or mobile geo-location evidence placing them at the scene of the incident; or

– other audio or digital evidence directly implicating them in the shooting; or

– credible proof that they were part of a verified chain of command that issued or received orders related to the shooting.

Unless the authorities can present such evidence, all those currently detained in relation to these murder cases should, at a minimum, be granted bail immediately.

There is no point in this government discussing grand constitutional reforms while arbitrary detentions and abuses of justice continue unchecked. If it wants to show that they are really interested in reform, perhaps they should ensure that the most basic principles of due process and the rule of law are upheld.