Case against 3 former chief justices for contempt of court

Four other Appellate Division justices are also accused in the case

A lawyer has filed a contempt of court case against seven judges including three former chief justices - Syed Mahmud Hossain, Hasan Foez Siddique and Obaidul Hasan.

Supreme Court Advocate Yunus Ali Akhand filed the case in the relevant branch of the High Court on Wednesday.

The other four judges are former Appellate Division justices Muhammad Iman Ali, Mirza Hussain Haider, Abu Bakr Siddique and Md Nuruzzaman.

The case claims that the judges all misused their powers, extrajudicially and unconstitutionally violated the Contempt of Court Act 1926, and without giving a chance for a hearing, punished Yunus in the name of contempt of court.

First, on Sept 27, 2020, the Supreme Court suspended his practice and issued a contempt of court rule without giving a hearing. Then on Sept 12, 2020, he was fined and suspended from practice for three months.

Yunus told bdnews24.com that in a case of contempt of court, the High Court can punish someone if the charge is proved under Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Act, 1926. Section 32 of the Bar Council Act provides that a tribunal may suspend a lawyer from the profession on a finding of professional misconduct.

“If they filed a case in the High Court, I could go to the Appellate Division. But they called me directly to the Appellate Division and issued a contempt order. I had no further appeal.”

When asked why he was punished at that time, Yunus said that he had poste on Facebook that these judges were taking the judiciary to the brink of destruction. Because of that, the Appellate Division punished him for contempt of court.

Yunus said that the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and the Supreme Court of India are not the same. A case can be filed directly in the Supreme Court of India. But according to Article 102 of the Constitution, a case can be filed directly in the High Court Division of Bangladesh and according to Article 103, an appeal can be made to the Appellate Division. A case cannot be filed directly in the Appellate Division. An appeal of a contempt of court judgment by the High Court can be brought to the Appellate Division under Article 103 (2)(c) of the Constitution.

"The said judges extrajudicially broke their oath and debarred my practice by issuing interim orders without giving me an opportunity to be heard, which is a violation of human rights under Article 11 of the Constitution."

He said that the application will be heard by the bench of Justice AKM Asaduzzaman and Justice Mohammad Mahbub Ul Islam.