Who is lying about Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha’s health? The question is now in every mind in the country.
The Law Minister and the Attorney General said that the CJ had taken leave because he was suffering from cancer. But the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) leaders claimed that the Chief Justice was forced to take leave.
The Law Minister on Thursday said that there was no bar from the government side to meet with the Chief Justice. He also claimed that the Chief Justice was not under house arrest.
But when the leaders of the SCBA trying to meet the CJ they had been barred by the law enforcement agencies.
Meanwhile, the Law Minister on Thursday met with the Chief Justice. Even the CJ, along with his wife, performed Lakshmi Puja at the Dhakeshwari Temple of Old Dhaka the same day. Surendra Kumar Sinha met with International Crimes Tribunal Prosecutor Rana Dasgupta and Gono Forum leader Advocate Subrata Chowdhury there.
Rana Dasgupta told reporters that the Chief Justice was in good physical condition. Advocate Subrata Chowdhury said, “Surendra Kumar Sinha stayed in the temple for 15 minutes, but I had no conversation with him.”
Responding to a query about the Chief Justice’s health, Subrata Chowdhury said, “He came here walking, and left the temple walking too.”
Prime minister’s International Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi met with Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha on Friday.
Dr Gowher went to the residence of the Chief Justice around 11:00am. They held a meeting for over an hour.
However, further details could not be known.
In this circumstance, the ‘sudden leave’ of the Chief Justice spread speculation across the country.
Only the government people are being allowed to meet the Chief Justice while others not, raising the question what is the fact and what is going on. It was learnt that the government leaders are allowed to meet him in a bid to convince him to go abroad.
The Senior Lawyers thought that if the Chief Justice went on leave on medical grounds then why he had been inaccessible? Why the lawyers’ leaders were prevented to meet with him? They thought that the judges were also silent in this regard. But the mystery regarding the Chief Justice should be cleared.
The Senior Lawyers of the Supreme Court Bar sat in meeting several times and took some resolutions. They decided that it was a matter of concern not only for the lawyers but also for the whole country. Even they sought directions from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha went on one month’s leave on Tuesday, ahead of retirement in January next. The Law Minister and the Attorney General said that he had taken leave because he was suffering from cancer.
The bar leaders went to meet with the Chief Justice on October 2, 2017 after hearing the news of his one month leave. But the law enforcing agencies barred them to do it, the Bar leaders said. They also claimed that the Chief Justice was forced to take a month’s leave. The CJ was under tremendous pressure to go on leave.
The leaders of the Supreme Court Bar Association on Friday tried once again to meet Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha but failed.
Advocate Umme Kulsum Rekha, Vice President of the Bar, said that her colleagues started the journey from the Supreme Court at 5.00pm to meet CJ as per previous decision taken in a meeting with the senior lawyers. But the members of the law enforcement agencies barred them in front of the Motso Bhaban in the city, she added.
After receiving this news over phone Advocate Umme Kulsum, who had already reached before the gate of CJ’s official residence, briefed the journalists.
The Chief Justice’s leave application came on the heels of a widespread debate on the 16th Amendment case verdict that restored the provision of the Supreme Judicial Council after scrapping the 16th Amendment to the Constitution.
After the Chief Justice went on leave, the BNP and like-minded quarters alleged that he has been sent on forced leave ahead of retirement in January following an outrage in the ruling party over the verdict.
A number of Awami League leaders and pro-AL lawyers demanded the Chief Justice’s resignation, accusing him of undermining Parliament and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the 16th Amendment case verdict.
On September 13, the Jatiya Sangsad passed a resolution calling for legal steps to nullify the SC verdict. The Law Minister said on several occasions that the government would seek a review of the judgment.
A M Mahbub Uddin Khokan, Secretary of the SCBA, said that what was happening regarding Chief Justice was the great fraud in history by the government. “If we fail to return the CJ it will be a great loss for the Judiciary and a scare will spread among the other judges of the Supreme Court,” he said.
The Bar Secretary also said, “If the mystery regarding the CJ is not disclosed then our image will be under minded globally.”
