High Court disposes of contempt of court petition against Sarjis Alam

The High Court has disposed of a contempt of court petition filed against National Citizen Party (NCP) leader Sarjis Alam over a Facebook post.

The bench of Justice Fahmida Quader and Justice Sayed Jahed Mansur pronounced the decision on Sunday. The petitioner's lawyer said that details would be revealed after the full order is available.

Supreme Court lawyer Md Jasim Uddin sent a legal notice to Sarjis, the NCP's chief coordinator for the northern region, on May 24, calling the status posted about the High Court's ruling on Facebook “derogatory” and “insulting”.

After the notice went unnanswered, the lawyer filed a contempt of court petition against Sarjis on May 28. Jasim himself presented the petition at the hearing.

After hearing the petition on Jul 7, the High Court set Sunday for its decision. The court disposed of the petition in the morning.

 “The High Court has disposed of the petition. Details will be known after receiving the full order,” said Jasim.

Deputy Attorney General Shafiqur Rahman and Assistant Attorney General Ikramul Kabir represented the state at the hearing.

After the High Court dismissed a petition to block BNP leader Ishraque Hossain from taking oath as mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), Sarjis wrote in a Facebook post: “If a High Court verdict can be achieved by creating a mob, then what is the need for this High Court?”

In his notice on the post, Jasim wrote: “Sarjis’s post is insulting to the court. Such comments undermine the dignity of the court. For this, he must unconditionally apologise to the public within two hours of receiving the notice.”

The last DSCC elections were held on Feb 1, 2020. The Awami League's Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh defeated BNP's International Affairs Committee member Ishraque by a margin of 175,000 votes to become mayor.

After the changeover of power, the Dhaka Election Tribunal annulled the results of the election on Mar 27 and declared Ishraque, the son of former undivided Dhaka City Corporation mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, as the mayor.

Then, on Apr 27, the Election Commission published a gazette declaring Ishraque as the DSCC mayor. But on May 14, Dhaka South City Corporation resident and Supreme Court lawyer Md Mamunur Rashid filed a petition in the High Court to block Ishraque from taking the oath.