One of the vital issues of the July uprising was establishing the rule of law. The uprisers claimed that the ousted government led by Sheikh Hasian distorted the Judiciary and the rule of law in Bangladesh. For this reason, in post-July, July uprisers kicked out Justices of the High Court and the Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice, obaidul Hassan, who was appointed during the ousted government regime, by creating mobs. However, the rule of law still questionable because it seems to be that, in many cases, the Bangladeshi judiciary is not functioning neutrally, free from the government pressure, and still judges allowing ‘police remand’ by considering plaintiff-defendant’s political affiliation.

Political cases are the main obstacle to ensuring judgment in due time in Bangladesh. During the ousted government regime, a considerable number of politically motivated cases were filed against the opposition political parties’ leaders and their supporters. In many cases, mass people are also victimized by the politically motivated cases due to add their name in the above cases. Harassing innocent people due to personal, ideological, and political conflict, their name was also included by the leader of the ruling party in politically motivated cases during the last 16 years.
The main objective of these politically motivated cases was to harass the people. For this reason, in most cases, with a change in the government, these politically motivated cases are withdrawn by the new government. In post-July uprising, the same things happened again. This post-July Bangladeshi interim government led by Dr. Muhammad Yunus, a peace-Nobel Laureate, has suggested the withdrawal of 6202 politically motivated harassment cases on 16 March 2025, which were filed during the 16 years of the previous government led by ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Most of the above politically motivated cases ran for 16 years and killed an enormous amount of Judiciary time. Police were also involved in investigating the cases and arrested the defenders in many cases, which shows that an enormous amount of valuable time and wealth of the Bangladeshi Judiciary and the Bangladesh Police were wasted in handling the above-mentioned politically motivated harassment cases during the last 16 years.

On the other side of the coin, despite wasting time in judging the politically motivated harassment cases, the Bangladeshi judiciary and the investigative authority of the Bangladesh Police could not allow more time for judges to investigate simultaneously other cases that were needed for plaintiffs-defendants to get judge by finishing their cases in due time. Statistics of the Bangladesh Supreme Court show that a total of 31,120 cases were pending in the Appellate Division and 0.58 million cases in the High Court Division until December 31, 2024. The condition of the lower judiciary was devastating. According to statistics, currently, the lower judiciary is handling a staggering 3.89 million cases. In these circumstances, a vast number of politically motivated harassing new cases in post-July Bangladesh are hampering and slowing down the judiciary system in Bangladesh that will delay judges who need it the most.

In post July Bangladesh, a considerable number of fake politically motivated harassing cases, including attempts in murder and murder cases, have been filed by the so-called pro-July political leaders and their supporters across Bangladesh. A considerable number of attempted in murder and murder cases have been filed against intellectuals, activists, journalists, writers, businessmen, mass people, and university professors, including the vice-chancellors. Even those who participated in the July uprising to kick out Sheikh Hasian and her government, such July murder cases have been filed against them too. For example, Ahsanul Mahbub Jubair- a former student of Jagannath University and now a member of the National Citizen Party (NCC) had to go through such kind of harassing case. Though he was an active participant in the July uprising, in post-July uprising, an attempt to murder case of July was submitted against him when he opposed giving a forceful levy to an extortionist.

This is a new trend of harassing people that is spreading across the country, like cancer in post-July Bangladesh. The commitment of the July uprising to establishing the rule of law is questioned by these politically motivated harassing cases or using July violence issues to oppress others due to personal, economic, ideological conflict. However, the government did not concentrate on the above issues, which are needed urgently not only to stop the harassment of innocent people but also to prevent wasting judiciary time. The post-July government of Bangladesh has to discontent the harassing people through politically motivated cases that will be one of the commitments of the Judiciary reform by the July uprisers in post-July Bangladesh.

Indeed, we want to ensure justice for those who were martyred or injured during the July uprising and post-July time. However, the government should ensure that that should be not used for harassing innocent people that are ongoing in Bangladesh now. The UN Human Right Commission Report on July massacre clearly said that who organized violence during July movement and post-July Bangladesh. So, to avoid harassing innocent people, the Bangladesh interim government should take proper initiative based on the UN Human Right Commission Report. Additionally, politically motivated harassing cases have better withdraw to avoid the ensuring proper Judgment of July massacre; otherwise, all Judgment for July massacre will be disputable and questionable and real killers will get a chance to delay their punishment.

Such kind of politically motivated harassing cases will balk justice and kill judiciary time that we saw in the last 16 years. In this case, the government can form a cell to collect data on all violence issues and investigate it before filing any cases against anybody on the issue. This check and balance will prevent the harassment of mass people, including intellectuals, activists, journalists, writers, businessmen, and university professors who are really innocent and were not involved in any violence during the July uprising and post-July Bangladesh, though notably they are now harassed by the politically motivated cases. Additionally, it will prevent the waste of Judiciary time and able to ensure more concentration on those who need the judge more in due time.
(Md. Abusalah Sakender: Advisor Editor, Nepal News and Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic History & Culture, Jagannath University. He can be reached at salah.sakender@outlook.com)