Letter to CJ on boycotting court: Two SC lawyers summoned for explanation
Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday summoned two Supreme Court lawyers, Mohammad Mohsin Rashid and Shah Ahmed Badal, on charge of using ‘derogatory statements’ in a letter sent to the Chief Justice informing him of their court boycotting programme.
Mohsin Rashid, convener of an ‘adhoc committee’ of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), and its Member Secretary Ahmed Badal, have been asked to appear before a full bench of the Appellate Division at 9:00 am on January 11 to explain their roles in the issuance of the letter.
They have to explain as to why they should not be dealt in accordance with law, said the court order.
A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan issued the order on its Suo Motu (voluntary) move.
In order to express solidarity with the ongoing non-cooperation movement of BNP, leaders of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum (BJAF), a platform of the pro-BNP lawyers, on December 27 last year announced a programme of boycotting all courts across the country.
In a press conference held at the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) building the forum leaders announced that they will boycott courts since January 1 to 7 in 2024.
SCBA adhoc committee led by Mohshin Rashid expressed their solidarity with the programme. They later issued a letter to all the judges of the both the division of the SC including the Chief Justice informing them over their programme.
The letter to the Chief Justice said, “This new year carries forward from 2023 the persecution of opposition political leaders and workers by an unelected, unaccountable and non-transparent fascist regime in Bangladesh. This has resulted in the unprecedented oppression of the people who have lost faith in the Republic. Voices and opinion is emerging for a second republic while the fascist regime of Awami League is holding a puppet show of selection of member to the Jatiyo Sangshad.”
“Under such circumstance the lawyers of the nation have called for stoppage of work by not attending the courts from January 1 to 7 in 2024 as a mark of peaceful protest against the farcical drama being enacted in the name of National Election.
The lawyers and the people will continue to repose trust in the institution of an independent, knowledgeable, and non-partisan judiciary to avoid anarchism, and it is expected that the judiciary will and should play its role effectively as the protector of human rights and stand in solidarity by the side of those are being denied their political and economic rights and those innocent citizens being persecuted by the fascist regime using the police and judiciary.
However, both the police, who enforce of law, and the judiciary, seem to have become and accessory in the persecution and oppression of its own citizens. The denial of the legitimate bails and conducting hasty trials has buried justice, and the same have become tools of oppression.”