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Tue Jan 8, 2019 05:47 PM
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A Supreme Court lawyer today sent a legal notice to the authorities concerned to cancel or withdraw the oath-taking of lawmakers elected in 11th national parliamentary election, saying that the oath-taking was a violation of the constitution.

Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon served the legal notice on behalf of Advocate Md Taherul Islam Tawhid to the Jatiya Sangsad speaker, chief election commissioner and cabinet secretary, saying that appropriate legal action will be taken if the oath taking held on January 3 is not cancelled or withdrawn by 9:30am on January 13.

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The lawyer said in the legal notice that the January 3 oath taking of the persons elected in 11th national parliamentary election took place in violation of Articles 123(3) and 148 (3) of the constitution, as the tenure of 10th parliament is yet to expire.

Article 123(3) says, “A general election of the members of Parliament shall be held in the case of a dissolution by reason of the expiration of its term, within the period of ninety days preceding such dissolution; and in the case of a dissolution otherwise than by reason of such expiration, within ninety days after such dissolution: Provided that the persons elected at a general election under sub-clause (a) shall not assume office as members of Parliament except after the expiration of the term referred to therein.”            

Article 148 (3) stipulates, “Where under this Constitution a person is required to make an oath before he enters upon an office he shall be deemed to have entered upon the office immediately after he makes the oath.”

In the legal notice, the lawyer said the 10th national parliament which first sat on January 29, 2014 still exists and will continue to do so till January 28 this year as per Article 72(3) of the constitution.

Until that period expires, the oath and assumption of the office of persons as MPs is not only a nullity in law but an absurdity as the MPs from the previous parliament are still holding office, he said in the legal notice.

Barrister Mahbub Uddin also said in the legal notice that the oath the persons elected in the 11th national parliamentary election has been administered illegally and all subsequent acts done by these persons including extending their support towards the appointment of prime minister, ministers and the formation of a government are also illegal.

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A Supreme Court lawyer today served a legal notice seeking a halt to biometric registration for subscriber identity module (SIM) cards of mobile operators claiming it violates privacy and has a potential malafide intention.
Lawyer Md Humayan Kabir Pallab also added concerns that the biometric data, supplied to some private companies, might be used for criminal activities.
The lawyer served the notice on behalf of Khairul Hasan Sarker, a citizen from Segun Bagicha in Dhaka. The collection of biometric data is absolutely illegal, arbitrary, malafide and without any substance of state security, he said in the legal notice.
Post and telecommunication secretary, law secretary, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), inspector general of police (IGP), Dhaka metropolitan police commissioner, Grameenphone, Robi Axiata Ltd, Airtel Bangladesh Ltd, Banglalink Ltd, Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd, and Pacific Bangladesh Ltd (Citycell) have been made respondents to the legal notice.
The notice also said that the collection of such information shall be seriously prejudicial to the safety and security of his client as well as the whole society and it will create potential risk in circulation of such database to national in international criminal organisations, network or syndicate.  
The lawyer requested the government and mobile phone operators to stop collection of biometric data and fingerprint within two days, saying that he will file a writ petition seeking necessary order with High Court if the collection of such information is not stopped in two days.

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Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain has cancelled the next two scheduled annual vacations of the Supreme Court.

The SC administration issued a notification to this effect last night.

Both the Appellate and High Court Divisions of the Supreme Court were scheduled to remain on vacation from September 1 to October 5 and from December 20 to 31.

The chief justice cancelled the vacations as per the decision taken in a full court meeting of the judges of the Appellate and High Court Divisions on August 6.

Most of the judges, who joined the virtual full court meeting through video conferencing, have proposed to curtail the next vacation of the court to recover the gaps caused due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, meeting sources said.

Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain at the same meeting decided to run both regular and virtual proceedings of the High Court from August 12 in the interest of lawyers and litigants.

The lawyers, who prefer the physical court, will move cases before the physical HC benches, while others will move cases before virtual HC benches.

Meeting sources said more than 40 HC judges, out of 92, expressed views for conducting court functions in a physical presence strictly following health guidelines while the remaining judges opined for continuing virtual proceedings of the HC in order to contain the spread of coronavirus.

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The Supreme Court today upheld a notice issued by the Dhaka University's Bangla department asking its students to keep their faces, including their ears, uncovered during exams and presentations.

The Appellate Division of the SC stayed a High Court order that halted the effectiveness of the notice issued by the department on December 11 last year.

The apex court, however, asked the HC to hear and dispose of the rule in two months. The rule ordered the authorities concerned to explain why the department's decision should not be declared illegal.

A full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Justice Md Nuruzzaman passed the order following a leave to appeal petition filed by the Bangla department challenging the HC order.

Writ petitioners' lawyer Faizullah Faiz told The Daily Star that following the apex court's order, the students under the department can be identified during exams.

Attorney General AM Amin Uddin appeared for DU Bangla department while lawyer Belayet Hossain argued for the writ petitioners during the hearing today.

Responding to a writ petition filed by three students of the department, the HC on March 28 stayed for six months the effectiveness of the notice and also issued a rule asking authorities concerned to explain why the department's decision should not be declared illegal.

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Eleven citizens, including some educationists, today served a legal notice on the government asking for information on steps taken to scrap Section 57 of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act, which has come under criticism recently.

According to the section, if any person deliberately publishes or transmits false, obscene and derogatory information in a website or in any other electronic form, he or she will be awarded seven to 14 years’ imprisonment and fined up to Tk 1 crore.

On behalf of the citizens, Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua sent the notice to the secretaries of the ministries of law, home and ICT, saying that appropriate legal action will be taken if they do not respond to the notice in 24 hours.

The notice also requested the government officials to immediately take steps to cancel the Section 57 of the ICT Act, saying that the section is contradictory to the constitutional provision of freedom of expression, thought, conscience and free speech.

The 11 citizens are: Dhaka University teachers Ahmed Kamal, Gitiara Nasreen, Fahmidul Haque, Tanzimuddin Khan and Samina Lutfa and its former teacher Akmal Hussain, Jahangirnagar University teacher Anu Muhammad, Bam Morcha (left alliance) leader Abdus Salam, singer and writer Arup Rahi, writer Rakhal Raha and Biplobi Workers’ Party General Secretary Saiful Huq. 

On Wednesday, Zakir Hossain, an accused in a case filed under the section, filed a writ petition with the High Court challenging the legality of the section.

He also prayed to the HC to declare the section unconstitutional.

Earlier on Wednesday, Supreme Court lawyer Eunus Ali Akond sent a legal notice to the government requesting it to scrap Sections 57 (1) and 86 of the ICT law.

Section 86 of the law protects government employees from the offences mentioned in Section 57(1), he said in the notice. The two sections were discriminatory and unconstitutional, he added.

Though rights activists have been critical from the beginning, the debate over Section 57 and demand for its repeal has intensified following the arrest of journalist Probir Sikdar.

The arrest sparked huge protests on the streets and also in the social media.

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The Supreme Court today commuted the death sentence of three convicts to imprisonment till natural death in the sensational Gopal Krishna Muhuri murder case of Chattogram.

Principal Gopal Krishna Muhuri of Nazirhat College in Chittagong was shot dead at his Jamal Khan Road residence in Chattogram on November 16, 2001.

Today, a three-member bench of the Appellate Division of the SC headed by Justice Muhammad Imman Ali commuted the death sentence of the three convicts after hearing their appeals against the High Court verdict on them in the case. 

The grounds on which the apex court commuted their death sentence could not be known immediately as the full text of the verdict has not been released yet.  

All the three convicts -- Azam, Alamgir Kabir alias Baitta Alamgir, and Taslimuddin Montu --  are now in the condemned cell, Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta told The Daily Star this morning.

The three convicts will be shifted to the normal cell of the jail as they are not death-row convicts, he said.

DAG Amit Das Gupta, however, could not say in which jail the three convicts are serving their punishment.             

Following the death reference and appeals of the convicts, the HC on July 19, 2006 upheld a lower court verdict awarding capital punishment to four convicts, including the three, for killing Gopal Krishna Muhuri. 

Of the four, Nasir alias Gittu Nasir was killed in a crossfire with Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on March 2, 2005.

The three convicts, who are in jail, filed three separate appeals with the SC challenging the HC verdict on them.

Lawyers Khandker Mahbub Hossain and Helal Uddin Mollah appeared for the convicts.

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