'Statue of Justice': 2 options for CJ

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said she had suggested Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha either remove the statue of Greek Goddess Themis from the Supreme Court premises or reinstall it at another place so that it cannot be seen from the National Eidgah.

She was having informal talks with her cabinet colleagues during yesterday's cabinet meeting, said meeting sources.

The PM had made the suggestion to the chief justice while talking to him at the inauguration ceremony of the newly constructed Judges Complex on Saturday, the sources added.

At a meeting with the Ulema from Qawmi madrasas on April 11, Hasina said she didn't like the statue, and that she would discuss the matter with the CJ soon.

“Why would the statue of Greek Goddess Themis be set up in Bangladesh? The Greeks had a certain type of costume, but here a statue has been built and it's wearing a sari. It's a funny incident. I don't know why such an incident happened,” she told the meeting.

Terming the statue “un-Islamic”, some radical Islamist organisations have been demanding its removal.

The matter came up at the cabinet meeting yesterday when a minister thanked the premier for her recent comments on coordination among the state's three organs, said another minister who was present there.

Hasina said the statue was not attractive, and that she didn't like it. She questioned why the statue was wearing a sari.

At Saturday's programme, the PM said there should be coordination among the three organs of the state, and that they should complement one another. The branches should not interfere with each other's jurisdiction or show off power.

The Islami Andolon Bangladesh on Sunday set a deadline for the government to remove the statue form the SC premises by April 23. It threatened to wage a tough movement for removing the statue and also the chief justice if the demand was not met.

On February 2, Bangladesh Olama League, a pro-Awami League organisation, sent a letter to the registrar general of the SC, demanding removal of the statue.

CABINET MEETING

At the beginning of the cabinet meeting yesterday, State Minister for Post and Telecommunications Tarana Halim handed over a replica of the Bangabandhu Satellite to the PM.  The satellite is scheduled to be launched into space in December.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said the cabinet approved in principle a proposal of the Internal Resources Division for making an integrated income tax law incorporating all previous rules, amendments and orders.

A draft of the proposed law titled “The Income Tax Act, 2017” was formulated in an integrated manner compiling all the amendments of the Income Tax Ordinance, 1984, he added.

Besides, the cabinet gave the final approval to the drafts of the Rajshahi Development Authority Act, 2017 and the Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) Act, 2017.