Staff Reporter :
Food Minister Qamrul Islam has sought unconditional apology for his contemptuous comment about Chief Justice SK Sinha. He, now abroad, offered the apology before the Supreme Court through his lawyer on Monday.
Qamrul Islam also filed a petition with the apex court seeking time to oblige with its order to appear before
it on March 15 in this connection. In the petition, he applied for reschedule the contempt rule’s hearing date to any day after March 19. Advocate Syed Mamun Mahbub, lawyer of the minister, said that Qamrul Islam is now in Malaysia to join a conference and for medical treatment. The minister will appear before the court any day after March 19, he said.
Mamun Mahbub told media that his client was very respectful to the law and would not make comment on the judiciary in the future. “We have also sought unconditional apology for the comments,” he said.
Earlier on March 8, the Supreme Court summoned Qamrul Islam and Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq to appear before it on March 15 for their reactions to comments of the Chief Justice about the prosecution team of International Crimes Tribunal.
On February 23, during the appeal hearing of war crimes convict and Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem, SK Sinha slammed the prosecution team and their investigation agency for poor performance. In response, Qamrul Islam and Mozammel Huq demanded resignation of the Chief Justice. Qamrul Islam alleged that the Chief Justice “was speaking in the lines of BNP-Jamaat and their lobbyists”. Mozammel Haq said that the Chief Justice should not be delivering the verdict in the appeal of Mir Quasem.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a cabinet meeting slammed the two ministers for their comments and said that she and her government would not own such comments.
Following the comments of the ministers, the nine-member full bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice SK Sinha issued the contempt rule and asked the ministers to explain by March 14 as to why “they should not be prosecuted for their highly contemptuous comment” and asked to appear before the court on March 15.Meanwhile, Advocate Abdul Baset Majumder, lawyer of Mozammel Huq, said they would also submit a time petition to the court.
