High Court Orders Production of Missing Mongla Fisherman Within 15 Days

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The High Court has ordered the production of 30-year-old Miraj Sheikh, a resident of Bagerhat’s Mongla upazila who has been missing for three months. A bench comprising Justice Ahmed Sohel and Justice Fatema Najib issued the directive along with a rule following a preliminary hearing on a writ petition filed by the missing man’s father, Md. Mostafa Sheikh.

The court has mandated that the relevant authorities produce Mr. Sheikh before the court within 15 working days. The legal counsel for the petitioner, Advocate Muhamad Mujahidul Islam, stated that the court has issued a rule asking the respondents to explain why they should not be directed to disclose his whereabouts and prove that he is not being held in unlawful detention.

The directive was issued to nine respondents, including the Home Secretary, the Director General of the Coast Guard, the Inspector General of Police, the Director General of the Rapid Action Battalion, the Bagerhat Deputy Commissioner, and the local Superintendent of Police.

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The writ petition followed mounting concerns regarding Mr. Sheikh’s disappearance on April 10. According to reports cited in the petition, Mr. Sheikh—who worked as both a fisherman and a motorcycle taxi driver—was allegedly detained by individuals in plainclothes near a tea stall in the Joymonir Ghola area. His wife, Mukta Khatun, has consistently alleged that she witnessed Coast Guard personnel taking her husband onto a speed boat that evening, an account that the agency has denied.

The family’s efforts to locate Mr. Sheikh have included filing a general diary with the Mongla Police Station on April 23 and holding a press conference at the Mongla Press Club on May 8. Furthermore, formal letters requesting an investigation into his disappearance were sent to various high-ranking officials, including the Home Minister and the Secretary of the Public Security Division, in mid-May. The court’s order now places the burden on the authorities to clarify the circumstances surrounding the case.