High Court Orders Immediate Release of Innocent Man Jailed for 10 Months Over Mistaken Identity

The High Court has ordered the immediate release of Md Almas, an innocent man who spent 10 months in prison after being mistakenly arrested in an arms case due to a name similarity with the actual convicted fugitive.

A High Court bench comprising Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Aziz Ahmed Bhuiyan passed the order on Sunday.

Advocate Tanvir Ahmed represented Almas in court, while Assistant Attorney General Barrister Mohiuddin Hanif appeared for the state.

According to court documents and a judicial inquiry report, the actual convict in the arms case filed with Mirpur Police Station in Dhaka is Md Almas, son of Md Khalilur Rahman, from Purba Dhoair village in Nayabari Union of Dohar, Dhaka. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but had remained absconding since the beginning of the case and is currently believed to be in Canada.

However, police mistakenly arrested another man, Md Almas, son of Sheikh Khalil, from the Kusumhati area of Dohar, and sent him to prison as the convicted accused.

Maintaining his innocence, the detained Almas filed a writ petition with the High Court seeking his release. Following an initial hearing, the court ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Mahfuzur Rahman subsequently conducted the inquiry and submitted a report to the High Court, identifying serious lapses and negligence in the police investigation that led to the wrongful arrest.

The report found discrepancies in the accused's address across the original case forwarding, police report and arrest warrant. Before 2007, the wrongly arrested Almas had lived in Bahra village under South Bahra Post Office. The actual convict also came from Purba Dhoair village under the same post office, creating confusion over their addresses.

However, the inquiry found clear differences in their family backgrounds. The arrested Almas's father's name is Sheikh Khalil and his grandfather's name is Sheikh Nawab Ali. In contrast, the actual convict's father was identified as Khalil Ahmed and his grandfather as Sheikh Shahar Ali.

Their family structures were also different. The actual convict was the only son among three sisters, while the wrongly arrested Almas has two brothers and two sisters.

The inquiry report also highlighted significant differences in their ages and occupations, which investigators had allegedly overlooked.

The actual convict was 24 years old when the case was filed in 2002, making him approximately 48 in 2026. The wrongly arrested Almas, born on December 10, 1985, was only 17 at the time and is now 40.

There were also differences in their professional and residential backgrounds. According to the case documents, the actual convict lived in Paikpara, Mirpur, Dhaka, with no specific occupation mentioned. The wrongly arrested Almas, meanwhile, earned his livelihood through farming and electrical work in his village.

After examining the judicial inquiry report and supporting documents, the High Court concluded that the absconding convict and the man detained in prison were two entirely different individuals.

In light of the findings, the court directed the authorities to release Md Almas immediately, bringing an end to his 10-month imprisonment resulting from a serious case of mistaken identity and investigative negligence.