Labour court grants bail to Dr Yunus after he surrenders

A labour court in Dhaka today granted bail to Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus in connection with five cases filed over sacking of five employees of Grameen Communications.

Dhaka 3rd Labour Court acting Chairman Zakia Parveen passed the order as Dr Yunus, chairman of Grameen Communications surrendered before it this afternoon.

On July 3, Abdus Salam, Shah Alam and Emranul Haque -- former junior MIS officers of the company -- filed three cases separately against Dr Yunus, Managing Director Naznin Sultana and Deputy General Manager Khandaker Abu Abedin of Grameen Communications with the court as they were sacked in June for their role in forming a trade union at their workplace.

On August 26, Abdul Gafur and Hossain Ahmed -- former staffs of the company -- filed two more cases against the trio with the court as they were also sacked in July for their similar role.

Advocate Mustafizur Rahman Khan, a defence lawyer, told The Daily Star the five employees used to work for Grameen Communications on a contractual basis. When their contracts were not renewed, they went on to file the cases.

The five employees, however, claimed that they were terminated as they wanted to form a trade union. But the directorate of labour did not entertain an application of a number of employees of Grameen Communications to form the trade union, according to Mustafizur.

The court on October 9 issued an arrest warrant for Dr Yunus in connection with three out of five cases as he failed to appear before it despite an earlier summon order.