Pro-Awami League lawyers call for Chief Justice Sinha to resign

A forum of lawyers allied with the ruling Awami League has called for Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha to step down, venting anger over the top court’s verdict that annulled the 16th constitutional amendment.

Justice Sinha must reverse the top court's verdict in two days and then step down, they demanded. The forum threatened to launch broader protests to pile pressure on Justice Sinha to resign.

The Bangabandhu Awami Ainjibi Parishad, whose members regularly criticise the BNP for demonstrations against court verdicts, held a demonstration on Tuesday in front of the Supreme Court Bar Association's offices.

The ruling Awami League reacted sharply after the court published its full verdict scrapping the 16th amendment that restored the parliament's power to sack top court judges.

Justice Sinha's observations on Bangladesh's politics, past dictatorships, Election Commission, corruption, governance and judiciary in the verdict sparked angry reactions from the ruling party stalwarts.

"With his irrelevant and unconstitutional observations in the verdict, the chief justice has attempted to question the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the architect of our independence," said the forum's Member Secretary Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh.

He claimed that Justice Sinha's reference to Pakistan in response to criticism over the verdict amounts to browbeating the prime minister.

"It's unprecedented for a chief justice to warn the prime minister. It is tantamount to violating the oath of office," said Taposh, an MP from Dhaka. He called for the chief justice to step down by Aug 24.

On Sunday during a hearing, Chief Justice Sinha advised that the government should behave in a mature manner and not react sharply to the scrapping of the 16th amendment.

Referring to Pakistan’s top court disqualifying the prime minister from office, Justice Sinha said nothing happened there, indicating that no criticism or reactions followed the verdict.

The mention of Pakistan, a touchy subject in Bangladesh’s politics, prompted Hasina to hit back at the chief justice the next day.

“We can tolerate everything, but not comparison with Pakistan. A verdict was passed in Pakistan, and someone is using it as a threat here," she told while addressing a party event on Monday.