Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Prof. Dr. Asif Nazrul held a press conference at the Secretariat on Tuesday. Photo: PID

DHAKA, Jan 21, 2025 (BSS) - Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Prof Dr. Asif Nazrul today said more than 2,500 'ghost’ cases filed during the previous Awami League government in 25 districts have been identified to withdraw the cases within the next seven days.

“The work of identifying ghost cases filed during Awami League regime started immediately after the interim government appointed public prosecutors and initiatives have been taken to withdraw the 'harassment' and 'ghost' cases,” he told a press conference at the secretariat.

“We have been able to identify more than 2,500 cases as ghost cases in 25 districts. There may be many more beyond this. It will be possible to withdraw all ghost cases by February next," Asif Nazrul said.

He said after the fall of the AL government on August 5 amid a popular uprising led by students, law officers of the previous period fled from the courts across the country. After that, the interim government had to appoint 4,000 law officers across the country from a list of several thousand lawyers. 

Asif Nazrul highlighted the determination of several criteria for identifying ghost cases including whether the cases were filed by the police or not; whether they were filed under the Explosives Act, Arms Act, Special Powers Act, whether there are allegations of attacks on the police or not.

“We considered these issues in withdrawing ghost cases. There are many unknown accused in these cases. We have seen that the cases were filed before and after major movements by opposition parties including the BNP,” he said. 

The adviser said such cases were also lodged before and after the three ‘fake’ elections during AL regime. 

Noting that tax was imposed on marriage registration, he said the law ministry has canceled this unreasonable tax.

He said ICT Division is working over withdrawing or amending the Digital Security Act (DSA).

“There are opinions from different quarters on the matter. The concerned ministry is thinking about the details of the matter. However, initiatives have been taken to withdraw the cases that have been filed under the act. ICT Division will decide on the act,” he said. 

A total of 332 cases filed under this act are speech offenses and 57 are under investigation while 113 cases were withdrawn through the public prosecutor, he said. 

Asif Nazrul hoped all the cases will be withdrawn within two weeks.

He said a gazette notification of the Supreme Court Judge Appointment Ordinance, 2025 was issued today. 

In many cases, unqualified people were appointed as judges due to party considerations, he said.

A draft has been given by Chief Justice’s Office and the Reform Commission for the formulation of the law regarding the appointment of judges of the Supreme Court, he mentioned. 

There is a Judicial Appointment Council in the draft law as the council will be formed under the leadership of the Chief Justice, he said.

The adviser hoped next judges of the High Court will be appointed in accordance with this law.

He said there has been a long-standing demand for establishing a separate secretariat for the judiciary as there is a national consensus on this. 

Initiatives have been taken to establish a separate secretariat as a law to establish a permanent attorney service is being prepared within a month, he said.

The law ministry used to attest 36 types of documents, so the public had to endure a lot of harassment as this work were done manually, he said. 

To resolve this, this process has been completely digitized since December 13 , he said adding this is saving the people's money and time.