Name confusion opens way for Almas’s release after a year in jail
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The High Court has ordered the release of a man named Md Almas from Sundaripara village in Kusumhati Union Parishad under Dohar upazila of Dhaka. He has been in jail for the past year due to a confusion over names.
A High Court bench comprising Justice J.B.M. Hassan and Justice Aziz Ahmed Bhuiyan passed the order on Sunday.
Assistant Attorney General Barrister Mahiuddin Hanif represented the state during the hearing. Advocate Tanvir Ahmed appeared for the victim, Md Almas.
Earlier, an investigation report submitted to the High Court revealed that Md Almas had been in jail for the past year in connection with an arms case filed more than two decades ago solely because his name resembled that of the actual convict.
The actual convict in the case was also named Md Almas, spelled Md Almas in Bengali. He moved to Canada shortly after the incident. His permanent address is in Purba Dhoair village under the Dakshin Bahra Post Office in Nayabari Union of Dohar upazila, according to the investigation report submitted to the High Court.
After being arrested in place of the actual accused due to the similarity in their names, the detained Almas filed a writ petition with the High Court. Following the initial hearing on the petition, the High Court issued a rule on September 6 and ordered an investigation to verify the identities and detailed information of the jailed Almas and the convicted person.
The court directed the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Dhaka to conduct the investigation under his supervision through a senior judicial magistrate. It also ordered the submission of the investigation report within 45 days of receiving the order. In compliance with the directive, the investigation report was submitted last Thursday.
In the report submitted by Dhaka Senior Judicial Magistrate Mahfuzur Rahman, it was concluded that the arrested Md Almas and Md Almas, who was convicted in Case No. 32 filed with Mirpur Police Station on April 10, 2002 (Tribunal Case No. 804/2002 under Section 19(a) of the Arms Act, 1878), are two entirely different individuals.
The report stated that the arrested Md Almas, whose father is Sheikh Khalil and mother is Roshnara Begum, is the same person who filed the writ petition with the High Court. He is not the convicted accused in Case No. 32 filed with Mirpur Police Station on April 10, 2002 (Tribunal Case No. 804/2002 under Section 19(a) of the Arms Act, 1878).
The absconding Md Almas, whose father’s names are recorded as Khalilur Rahman, Khalil Ahmed or Md Abul Khair Khalil and whose mother is Salma Akter, is the convicted accused in the case. He is currently living in Canada.
The report said the paternal identities of the actual accused Md Almas and the arrested Md Almas do not match. The actual accused’s father is Khalilur Rahman, Khalil Ahmed or Md Abul Khair Khalil, while the jailed Almas’s father is Sheikh Khalil.
Their grandfathers are also different. Not a single name matches in the lists of siblings from the two families. The actual accused Md Almas is the only brother among three sisters. In contrast, the arrested Md Almas has two brothers and two sisters.
The report further stated that the convicted Md Almas was 24 years old in 2002. Accordingly, he would have been around 48 in 2026. However, the date of birth of the arrested Md Almas is December 10, 1985. Based on this, his current age is 41. This means he was 17 in 2002. The age difference is approximately seven years, which cannot be overlooked.
The investigation report identified three reasons behind the arrest of the wrong person.
First, the arrested Md Almas lived with his family in Bahra village under the Dakshin Bahra Post Office before 2007. On the other hand, the actual accused’s village, Purba Dhoair, also falls under the same post office. As people commonly identify their addresses by post office names, the addresses of the two individuals became identical.
Second, there was considerable similarity between their fathers’ names. The actual accused’s father’s name was recorded as Khalilur Rahman, Khalil Ahmed or Md Abul Khair Khalil. This similarity caused further confusion in identifying the two individuals.
Third, the address of the convicted accused Md Almas in the arms case filed in 2002 was mistakenly recorded as South Bahra instead of Purba Dhoair. The incorrect address remained in subsequent records. After the verdict was delivered, the address of accused Md Almas in the arrest warrant was also changed to South Bahra instead of Purba Dhoair.
According to case records, police filed an arms case against Md Almas, 24, and Md Nazmul Alam Mamun, 22, with Mirpur Police Station on April 10, 2002.
On June 19, 2004, Dhaka Metropolitan Special Tribunal 11 delivered its verdict in the arms case. The court sentenced Md Almas, whose father’s name was Md Khalil Ahmed and whose address was South Bahra village in Dohar, Dhaka, to 10 years in prison. His current address was mentioned in the verdict as Ahmednagar, Paikpara, Mirpur. The other accused, Nazmul, was acquitted.
Almas was absconding when the verdict was announced. A sentence warrant was issued against him.
Following a warrant issued on March 20, 2024, police produced Almas, whose father’s name is Sheikh Khalil, before the court on November 5 last year as the convicted accused. The court sent him to jail. He has remained behind bars ever since.
