Anomalies in mobile court act

Bangladesh Law Commission, in a recent report, has suggested that some lacunae exist in the Mobile Court Act 2009 which may render it susceptible to violation of human rights. According to the commission, the Act, which empowers executive magistrates to hold trials, contains provisions that can be repressive such as, sending offenders to jail for failing to instantly pay the monetary fine imposed by mobile courts. 

The commission recommended some remedial measures such as introducing new provisions for the offenders' bail coupled with scrapping of the existing provisions for filing appeals with deputy commissioners and sending offenders to jail if they fail to comply with the penalty provision.  

The alleged offender can first file an appeal to the district magistrate (or deputy commission) or additional district magistrate (or additional deputy commissioner), before he can file another with the sessions judge's court if he is not satisfied with the verdict against his first appeal. The inability to file directly to a regular court can result in miscarriage of justice and prolonged suffering of people, especially when we consider that as much as 98 percent of cases of convictions by mobile courts were overturned once they reached the sessions judge's court. We endorse the commission's view that the Supreme Court should have some supervisory powers over the mobile courts. 

The commission's recommendations for perfecting the Act merit consideration and adoption. Mobile courts are meant for providing speedy justice and hence they should have operational safeguards against any possible misuse.