Chief justice dissolves High Court bench after allegations of ‘misconduct’ towards lawyer

Accusations of corruption in case listings and misconduct towards a lawyer lead to judicial reshuffle

Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed has replaced a judge from a High Court bench following allegations of 'discourteous' behaviour towards a lawyer during court proceedings.

Justice Ataur Rahman Khan, who was part of the vacation bench along with Justice KM Hafizul Alam, has been removed from the bench.

Following this, Justice Hafizul was paired with Justice Kazi Zeenat Haque for the bench duties.

Amidst the uproar over allegations of corruption in case listings, the High Court bench experienced significant disruption. A group of lawyers later approached the chief justice with complaints.

They accused the senior judge of being ‘discourteous’ towards a lawyer. Following this, a decision was made in the afternoon to remove the judge from the bench.

On the dual criminal bench, over 800 cases were scheduled for hearing on Tuesday, most of which involved anticipatory bail.

Lawyer Aminul Islam, who was present in the courtroom, told bdnews24.com: "During the morning court session, Barrister Ashraf Rahman addressed the senior judge, stating, 'I beg your pardon, my lord, but the bench officers in your court have accepted bribes to include cases on the cause list. Those who did not pay were unfairly excluded from the list, resulting in many lawyers being denied proper slots.'"

According to Aminul, the senior judge reacted angrily, using inappropriate language to verbally abuse the lawyer.

"He said 'I was once a leader of the Bar Council. Who gave you the courage to speak against my court?' He then harshly ordered him to leave the courtroom and threatened to have him handed over to the police," Aminul added.

At that moment, as lawyers from the back began shouting and causing a commotion, the judges eventually left the courtroom.

Later, Barrister Ashraf and a group of lawyers expressed their concerns to the chief justice, highlighting ongoing 'widespread irregularities' in the case listings and hearings of that High Court bench.

They added that despite informing the relevant authorities about these issues, no effective measures had been taken.

Attempts to reach the bench officers for comment regarding the allegations of corruption in the case listings were unsuccessful, as none were present in the courtroom.