The statue of Lady Justice was taken down from the apex court premises following the decision of the Supreme Court, Awami League’s General Secretary Obaidul Quader said today.

“It is not the jurisdiction of the government. The jurisdiction resides within the Supreme Court,” Quader told journalists during a site visit in Gaizpur this afternoon.

The statue of Lady Justice was taken down in the late hours of last night, a month after Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam demanded its removal from the Supreme Court premises.

Earlier on April 11, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a meeting with the Alem and Ulema from Qawmi madrasas said she personally did not like the statue on the SC premises either.

Later on April 17, Hasina told her cabinet colleagues that she had asked the CJ either to remove the statue or reinstall it at another place so that it cannot be seen from the National Eidgah.

The removal sparked a wave of protest in the social media. This morning, protests broke out at Dhaka University, where police used tear gas shells and water cannons to quell protesters.