A Chattogram Court has dismissed three applications, including a plea to expedite a hearing, submitted on behalf of Sammilita Sanatani Jagran Jote spokesperson Chinmoy Krishna Das, who was arrested in a sedition case on allegations of desecrating the national flag.
Chattogram Metropolitan Sessions Judge Saiful Islam issued the order on Wednesday afternoon, said assistant public prosecutor Raihanul Wazed Chowdhury.
APP Raihanul said, 鈥楢 Supreme Court lawyer, Rabindra Ghosh, filed three applications on behalf of Chinmoy Krishna Das. The court rejected the applications on grounds of lacking a vakalatnama.鈥櫬�
He said, 鈥楾he lawyer sought to advance the hearing date, present documents, and applied for bail in the case. However, he was not accompanied by any member of the Chattogram Bar, nor did he possess a vakalatnama or written authorisation from the original filing lawyer. Consequently, the court deemed the applications 鈥榥ot maintainable鈥�.鈥櫬�
However, Rabindra Ghosh, also chairman of Bangladesh Minority Watch, claimed he had the right to represent the accused as a Supreme Court lawyer.聽
鈥楴o local lawyer can represent Chinmoy Prabhu in this case. The judge was initially inclined to accept my application, but nearly 100 lawyers began protesting loudly, questioning my authorisation and citing the lack of a vakalatnama,鈥� Rabindra Ghosh said.
On the issue of vakalatnama, Rabindra Ghosh said, 鈥楾he lawyers representing Chinmoy Krishna Das are themselves accused in a case. How can they represent him here? Since the applications were not heard, we will now approach the High Court.鈥櫬�
On December 3, a bail hearing for Chinmoy Krishna Das was deferred to January 2 after no lawyer appeared to represent him. Sanatani Jagran Jote alleged that cases were filed against 70 lawyers to prevent them from appearing on Chinmoy鈥檚 behalf with the chambers of some lawyers reportedly facing attacks.