Staff Reporter :
Lawyers of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Sunday said that the independence of the Judiciary was under threat due to government influence.
This threat is very naked, they said.
They also said that what kind of behaviour had been done with Chief Justice (CJ) Surendra Kumar Sinha was unprecedented. “We never heard that any civilized and any democratic country has kept its Chief Justice under house arrest,” added the lawyers.
The Supreme Court Bar Association members said this in a human chain and protest program held on the Bar premises. Supreme Court Bar arranged the program demanding the protection of image of the Judiciary.
The Bar leaders on Saturday in a press briefing also called upon to the lawyers across the country to follow the program.
Bar President Advocate Zainul Abedin presided over the program. Barrister Moudud Ahmed, Bar Secretary Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan, Advocate Nitai Roy Chowdhury, Vice-President of the Bar Advocate Umme Kulsum Rekha, Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal, Advocate Mirza Al Mahmud, Dr Arifa Jesmin Nahin and Barrister Ahsanur Rahman were present at the program, among others.
Barrister Moudud Ahmed, former Law Minister and standing committee member of BNP, said, “Today’s main question is if the Judiciary will have independence as per the Constitution.”
He also said, “The government cannot accept the 16th Amendment case verdict. After this verdict, the government and the ruling party leaders reaction was unprecedented. We never heard that any civilized and any democratic country has kept its Chief Justice under house arrest. No one can see him without the permission of the government. It means CJ is under government custody.”
Advocate Zainul Abedin said that the Judiciary of the country was under a naked threat. He termed this threat ‘Awami threat’. Advocate Nitay Roy Chowdhury said that the government was seizing judiciary in fascist form. What the government had done regarding the Chief Justice’s leave was the final form of the fascism.
Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokan said, the leave petition of the Chief Justice was false. The Chief Justice had been detained. The government was lying about CJ’s health, he added.
