Staff Reporter :
Lawyers of the Supreme Court on Wednesday organised a protest rally on the Supreme Court premises demanding immediate release of Barrister Mainul Hosein, a former Advisor to the Caretaker Government.
They said Magistrate court’s order sending Barrister Mainul to jail is unprecedented as the order violated the direction of the Supreme Court.
Jatiya Ainjibi Oikyafront’s Convener and former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Advocate Zainul Abedin, Ainjibi Oikyafront’s Member-Secretary and also SCBA Secretary Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan, Jatiya Ainjibi Oikyafront’s leaders Advocate Jaglul Haider Afric and Advocate Shah Ahmed Badol, Advocate Abed Raja, Advocate Rafiqul Hoque Talukder Raja, Advocate Ayub Ali Ashrafee, Advocate Mirza Al Mahmud, Advocate Sharif U Ahmed, among others, gave speech in the programme.
Advocate Zainul Abedin said, “Our judiciary is issuing arranged judgement continuously. The Chief Justice should take initiatives immediately to stop this trend.”
The lawyer warned the Chief Justice that he might have to bear the consequences of Justice S K Sinha if he fails to stop issuing the arranged judgements by the courts.
Rejection of bail petitions of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and Barrister Mainul Hosein are the arranged judgements, he added.
Barrister A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan said, “The Supreme Court directed the lower court to consider the bail application of Barrister Mainul Hosein. But the Magistrate didn’t follow the direction by the apex court. This is a great threat to the rule of law. The courts of the country are not performing in accordance with the law. The lower courts are following the instructions of the Law Minister and the higher judiciary is following the instructions of the Attorney General.”
“We demand for departmental action against the judge who sent Barrister Mainul Hosein to jail rejecting his bail in a bailable case. People of the country are not getting justice in the courts,” he added.
Barrister Khokan said that they would continue the programme for the release of Barrister Mainul.
He said they will organise another protest rally on the Supreme Court premises today (Thursday) and after the rally they will meet the Chief Justice to submit a memorandum demanding departmental action against the judge who rejected Barrister Mainul’s bail.
A Dhaka court on September 3 sent Barrister Mainul Hosein to jail rejecting his bail petition in a defamation case filed by Masuda Bhatti.
Judge of the Metropolitan Magistrate Court of Dhaka, Tofazzal Hossain, passed the order after Barrister Mainul Hosein surrendered before the court and sought bail.
The case was filed in the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate on October 21, 2018.
Barrister Mainul got ad-interim bail from the High Court on October 21, 2018 in the case. Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s court also followed the High Court order on May 12 this year.
In the mean time, the government appealed against the High Court order and after hearing the Appellate Division on August 21, 2019 directed Barrister Mainul Hosein to surrender in the trial court. Following the Appellate Division order, he surrendered in the trial court on September 3.
According to Advocate Mohiuddin Chowdhury, the case was filed by Masuda Bhatti, but no lawyer represented her in the court on Tuesday.
Masuda Bhatti asked Barrister Mainul Hosein in a live TV talk show if he was representing Jamaat in the political alliance of Jatiya Oikyafront.
As he was never connected with Jamaat, Mainul Hosein was embarrassed hearing the question and said her a person of loose morals.
It should be noted that after being invited, he attended in an open programme of Bangladesh Islami Chatra Shibir, a co organisation of Jamaat, years ago where many of the reputed persons of the society, including media personalities, were present.
