Pro-Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawyers on Monday warned that the politically biased and corrupt judges, appointed during the ousted Awami League regime, would no longer be able to hold office or preside over court proceedings.
Addressing a press conference at the Supreme Court Bar Association, lawyers from the Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum issued the warning just five days after the appointment of 23 new judges—the first appointments under the interim government led by Professor Muhammad Yunus, which took office on August 8, three days after the fall of Sheikh Hasina government amid a student-mass uprising on August 5.
The forum’s warning came just one week before the reopening of the Supreme Court. The apex court is set to reopen on October 20.
The forum’s Supreme Court unit president Zainul Abedin claimed that the BNP had evidence of politically biased and corrupt High Court judges. He, however, stated that the party had yet to disclose the specific number of such judges.
‘The Chief Justice, as the guardian of the judiciary, will take appropriate action after determining the exact figure,’ he added.
‘Unfortunately, many judges operated breaching the code of conduct during the 15-year rule of the fascist Awami League regime,’ the forum secretary general Kayser Kamal said.
‘We demand action against the judges who violated the constitution and their oath of office. This demand will persist until the matter is fully addressed,’ he said.
Zainul Abedin also alleged that ‘an unseen force’ was interfering in the activities of the law ministry, causing delays in the appointment of government law officers at the lower court level.
He claimed that these delays were prolonging the tenure of law officers appointed during the Awami League regime.
He urged the interim government to withdraw all the politically motivated cases against BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman.
Zainul described the cases against Tarique Rahman as ‘part of the fascist agenda of Sheikh Hasina government’.
On October 7, a group of Supreme Court lawyers staged a demonstration on the Supreme Court premises and submitted a ‘charter of demands’ to Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed, calling for the resignation of judges accused of political bias and corruption during the Awami League regime.
During their demonstration under the banner of ‘Bangladesh Supreme Court Lawyers’, the group demanded the resignation of at least 30 High Court judges.
