Lawyers to boycott chief justice's court
Supreme Court lawyers boycott the chief justice's court indefinitely
from August 30, as he ignored their demand for cancellation of the swearing-in
of 19 new additional judges appointed on what they said were political
grounds. The Supreme Court Bar Association decided that any member,
including the attorney general, would be expelled from the Bar in failure
to comply with the boycott decision. The Bar will file a writ petition
with the High Court to challenge the appointment after the lawyers receive
explanations.The government appointed 19 additional judges to the High
Court on August 23, triggering resentment among lawyers who described
the recruitment as the worst-case example of political motives. The
fourth recruitment by the BNP-led coalition took the number of judges
appointed to the High Court to 45 since 2002. The Bar at an emergency
requisition meeting that day resolved the new judges should not be addressed
as "My Lord" which should be replaced by a new term in consultation
with the association. Bar President Rokanuddin Mahmud told that "respect
comes from inside and it cannot be demanded". "The government
pushed us to the extremes." Meanwhile, Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Oikya
Parishad yesterday strongly protested the boycott decision, terming
the action an infringement on functioning of the judges and violation
of fundamental rights of justice seekers.
On the other hand boycott of the chief justice's court was challenged
on September 2 in the High Court by three senior lawyers saying, the
decision of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) was ulta vires
the fundamental rights in their writ said the SCBA by taking the harsh
decision has infringed their fundamental right to legal practice. -
Law Desk.
Monk
murder case
The First Additional District and Sessions Judge Court here awarded
death penalty August 29 to all the six living accusees of the murder
of a Buddhist monk in Raozan on April 21, 2002. The monk, Gyanojyoti
Mohathero, was brutally slain in his monastery at Hingala Warapuyan
Buddha Bihar, a temple cum orphanage, in Raozan of the district triggering
outrage at home and abroad.The court ordered to execute the convicts
by hanging them until death upon approval of the High Court.
The judgement, however, provided for the convicts to appeal to the higher
court within seven days after receipt of attested copies of the verdict.
-Daily Star, August 30.
HC
rule on Nurul's retirement
The High Court issued a rule asking the government to reply in six weeks
why the section 9 (2) of the Public Service (Retirement) Act, 1974 should
not be declared illegal.
The court issued the order following a writ petition filed by prime
minister's acting secretary AHM Nurul Islam, who was forced into retirement
on June 3 reportedly on charges of violating service rule and acting
against the government. -Daily Star, August 30.
10
outlaws to die for Kazi Aref killing
A court in Kushtia sentenced 10 underground operatives to death and
another 12 to life imprisonment, convicting them of murdering five Jatiya
Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) leaders, including Kazi Aref Ahmed six years
ago.
The First Additional District and Sessions Judge's Court relieved three
people of the charges after an 85-workday trial that recorded statements
of 41 of the 57 prosecution witnesses.
An armed gang killed Aref, the central president of JSD and freedom
fighter, along with his four local party colleagues while he was speaking
out against political violence at a rally in Kalidaspur village in Daulatpur
in the south-western district on February 16, 1999. -Daily Star,
August 31.
Letter
to PM
Country representative of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
(ICBL), Rafique Al Islam was arrested on August 21 at his home in Cox's
Bazar by soldiers from the RAB. The authorities have neither charged
him nor provided a basis for his arrest. In a letter to Prime Minister,
executive director of the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch and senior
representative of the ICBL's Coordinating Committee, Stephen Gooses
expressed that it is an outrage that this respected member of the Nobel
Peace Laureate ICBL has been arbitrarily arrested and detained. He further
added that his arrest and detention is very surprising and disturbing,
especially given the positive leadership role that the government of
Bangladesh has played recently in banning antipersonnel mines.
Bangladesh ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on September 6, 2000 and currently
serves as co-rapporteur of the treaty's Standing Committee on Stockpile
Destruction.- Prothom Alo, September 1.
HC
order on speaker's house in JS compound stayed
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on August 31 stayed for
two months operation of a High Court judgement that had declared construction
of official residences for the speaker and the deputy speaker within
the Jatiya Sangsad compound "illegal and without lawful authority".
A three-member bench of the Appellate Division, presided over by Chief
Justice Syed JR Mudassir Husain, passed the order on a government petition
seeking leave to appeal against the High Court judgement.
None of the counsellors for the petitioners was present because of a
Supreme Court Bar Association boycott of the chief justice's court.-
New Age,September 1.
Yasmeen
murder
Two of the three former policemen convicted of raping and killing 13-year-old
Yasmeen more than nine years ago walked the gallows in Rangpur Central
Jail .Former assistant sub-inspector Moinul Hoque and ex-constable Abdus
Sattar were hanged on the same gallows at a time under tight security.-
Daily Star, September 2.
Human
Rights condition in August
As many as 46 persons were killed, 1013 injured and 4 kidnapped in violation
of human rights relating to politics in the month of August, human rights
organisation Odhikar in its monthly report said.
Those killed and the injured included the victims of the grenade attack
on the Awami League rally at Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, in which
Awami League Women Affairs Secretary Begum Ivy Rahman and 19 others
were killed and over 300 injured. According to the Odhikar report prepared
on the basis of newspaper reports, 17 persons were killed by the law
enforcing agencies while 5 others died under police and jail custody.
The report said on August 22, district correspondent of the daily Ajker
Kagoj Kamal Hossain was killed. At the same time, 14 persons received
injuries, three were harassed two subjected to attack and 30 journalists
were given threat on their lives. Some 62 women were raped and 10 of
the rape victims were killed and 19 persons including one male, seven
children and 11 women became the victims of acid attack. As many as
29 women were the victims of dowry. Of them, 16 were killed, 11 repressed,
one committed suicide and one became the victim of acid attack. The
report also pointed out that nine were killed, 25 injured, 22 abducted
and seven arrested in violation of human rights in the country's three
hill district Bandarban, Rangamati and Khagrachhari. -The Bangladesh
Observer, September 2.
Corresponding
with the Law Desk
Please send your mails, queries, and opinions to: Law Desk,
The Daily Star 19 Karwan Bazar, Dhaka-1215; telephone
8124944, 8124955, 8124966; fax 8125155, 8126154; email <dslawdesk@yahoo.co.uk
