Cases piling in country’s lone Marine Court sans magistrate
06 December 2022
Staff Reporter :
Cases are piling up in the country's only Marine Court as the court has no magistrate for about three months.
As a result, vessel incident related victims are being suffered and no hearing is taking place due to want of a magistrate.
Besides, accused with warrant are on the run as they are failing to submit petition before the court to get bail.
Over 3,000 cases have so far been piled up in the last three months with the Marine Court.
However, the Department of Shipping (DoS) has sent a letter to the Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry to appoint a magistrate for the Marine Court.
Advocate Jahangir Hossain, a Supreme Court lawyer, who practices with the Marine Court said, "the shipping sector is very important and sensitive. The DoS inspectors have to file cases instantly for occurring any incident in the water bodies with the Marine Court."
He said that many accused with warrants are in hiding due to absence of a magistrate in the Marine Court.
"Our clients are facing difficulties to continue their cases. Besides, discipline in the shipping sector is also being disrupted for a magistrate. We are requesting the relevant ministry to appoint a magistrate immediately for the Marine Court considering the importance," Advocate Jahangir Hossain said.
When contacted Director of the DoS Badrul Hasan Liton regarding the matter he said, "We already wrote to the Law Ministry
for a magistrate. They assured us to appoint the magistrate for the Marine Court as soon as possible."
It is true that many cases are piling with the court, he added.
"I personally talked with a Joint Secretary of the Law Ministry regarding the matter. We hope the ministry will take prompt action in this regard," the DoS Director said in reply to another query.
The Marine Court shall have the same powers as are vested in the Court of a Magistrate of the first class under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898).
