Kangaroo court 'judge' denied bail

KOLKATA: How fair are the informal courts in our villages? A look at the Uttar Bantara salishi body in South 24-Parganas can shed some light. The village court convicted a person, tonsured him and paraded him naked around the village. The traumatised man took his life. If this is how ''village courts'' function, the government needs to take adequate precaution before giving the proposed Block level Pre-litigation conciliation boards a legal stamp, lawyers said.On September 24, 1996, Jahanara Bibi, a villager, complained to former pradhan Fakir that her husband Nazrul Sardar was going around with another woman.
She identified the woman as Shakila Bibi, from the same village. Both Nazrul and Shakila were asked to appear before a ''court'' set up in the village. Fakir presided over this court and heard the submissions of all parties before convicting Nazrul and Shakila. Fakir then ruled that Nazrul and Shakila be tonsured and stripped before being paraded around the village. In the night, the two were locked up in separate rooms. They were allowed to wear clothes only in the morning. Unable to bear this humiliation, Nazrul consumed pesticide on September 25, 1996. He was taken to hospital where he died. The then officer-in-charge of Canning police station B P Mukherjee filed a suo-moto complaint against Fakir and his son. The police could not do much in the matter as Fakir was a prominent CPM leader of the area.
The police, however, sprung to action only after Fakir dumped the CPM to join the PDS. The police filed a chargesheet against him and Abdul on March 26, 2001. Both were charged with abetting suicide and outraging the modesty of a woman. On Monday, the duo filed for anticipatory bail before the High Court through advocate Abhra Mukherjee. Sushil Kumar Mahato, appearing for the state, opposed the prayer. Calcutta High Court rejected the anticipatory bail prayer of Fakir Md Sardar and his son.