Dhaka, Feb 25 (bdnews24.com)— A High Court bench asked senior lawyer Rafiq Ul Huq Wednesday to explain why he would not be charged with contempt of court for interfering in the course of justice.
Justices Syed AB Mahmudul Haq and Mainul Islam Chowdhury also ordered him to attend a hearing on Mar. 22.
The orders came on an appeal by lawyers Md Idrisur Rahman and Md Zahirul Islam Mukul who complained the veteran lawyer interrupted a Supreme Court judge when he was reading out his verdict on Feb 23 on a number of bail petitions from VIP convicts.
Arguing for a contempt rule, Ramzan Ali Shikder, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, referred to a news report published in the daily Prothom Alo on Feb. 24.
bdnews24.com also ran the story the previous day, headlined:
Judge leaves court halfway into delivering verdict
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"The judge was delivering his verdict. Barrister Rafiq Ul Huq repeated, 'you are a collaborator. You are not Bangladeshi'," Shikder said quoting the news report.
Shikder said that the verbal onslaught on Justice Chowdhury amounted to a personal attack.
"Barrister Rafiq told the judge: Don't you see me? Give your verdict based on what I have said explaining the (relevant aspects of) constitution," Shikder said, again quoting from the newspaper report.
Shikder argued Huq's interruptions were a direct obstruction to the delivery of justice.
"Barrister Rafiq told the judge: you take a look at the High Court rules. You don't (seem to) know about the High Court rules. Because you came from the sessions court," read the report that Shikder used to charge Huq with contempt.
On Feb. 23, justice Mainul Islam Chowdhury, the junior judge of a two-member bench, left courtroom after repeated interruptions from Huq during his verdict on the appeals for bail and withdrawal of cases against convicted fugitive VIPs. Justice Chowdhury disagreed with senior judge Syed AB Mahmudul Haq and was explaining why he differed.
Justice Haq had ruled that the VIPs, on surrender to trial court within eight weeks, would not have to go to jail.
Disagreeing, Justice Chowdhury ordered the VIPs to surrender to trial court first, and then appeal against the trial court verdict from jail as per applicable law.
As Huq, who pleaded for former minister Anwar Hossain Manju, continued to interrupt, Justice Chowdhury left the courtroom at one stage.
A Supreme Court lawyer, who was present in the courtroom, said Huq had been insisting Justice Chowdhury mention his arguments in the verdict.
Referring to a Pakistan High Court's decision in a similar case, Justice Chowdhury had observed that in such cases, the convicts were to surrender to trial court.
Barrister Huq put his argument by saying that according to Section 111 of the constitution, the High Court was bound to follow the verdict of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, not any verdict of the Pakistan High Court.
bdnews24.com/at/khk/bd/2358h.
