Labour law case against Prof Yunus: Judge leaves court amid chaos
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Heated conversations took place between the lawyers of the defence and prosecution in the case filed against Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus and three others on charge of violating labour law. The situation caused the judge to leave the courtroom, resulting in an 80-minute break in the proceedings.
Judge of the Third Labour Court, Sheikh Merina Sultana, started proceedings of the cross examination of prosecution witness Tariqul Islam at 12:55 pm on Wednesday, but left the courtroom around 1:40 pm following a heated exchange between the prosecution and defence, said Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun, a counsel of Prof Yunus.
The lawyer said the trial proceedings resumed at 3:00 pm and ended for the day at around 4:15 pm.
The court completed the cross examination of the first prosecution witness Tariqul Islam on Wednesday and fixed October 18 for further proceedings in the case.
Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun said, “The complainant mentioned about 67 workers of Grameen Telecom office. However, only nine of them are workers, and the rest are officials. We made objection over the information.”
Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan, a lawyer of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE), the plaintiff organisation, said, “It doesn’t matter whether they are officials or workers. The matter is whether the law was violated or not?”
Actually, they (defence) are trying to linger the case, alleged the DIFE lawyer.
Prof Yunus, also Chairman of Grameen Telecom, did not appear before the court on the day, however, he was represented by his lawyer. The three other accused are--- Grameen Telecom Managing Director Ashraful Hassan, Directors Nurjahan Begum and Md Shahjahan.
On June 6 this year, the same court framed charges against the accused including Prof Yunus in the case filed by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments for allegedly violating the labour law.
The other accused in the case are- Grameen Telecom Managing Director Ashraful Hassan, Directors Nurjahan Begum and Md Shahjahan.
Inspector of the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments, Arifuzzaman, filed the case with Dhaka 3rd Labour Court on 9 September in 2021 against four people including Prof Yunus.