Dhaka, Apr 29 (UNI) Bangladesh’s Awami League party has sharply criticised the deterioration of the judiciary in the country under the interim government led by Chief Advisor Mohammed Yunus, saying that there is ‘No Rule of Law’ in the country anymore, citing the statement by a Supreme Court lawyer.
In a post on its official X handle (formerly Twitter), the ex-PM Sheikh Hasina’s party cited the video of a Supreme Court lawyer, Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua, who claimed that CA Yunus was “controlling the judiciary”, and that there was no protection or justice for victims of false cases.
Barua, a senior Advocate of the Supreme Court and a human rights lawyer, said: “After High Court bail, prisons call law enforcement for ‘further needs.’ Even when the bail order says ‘no other cases’, they delay release. As a law student, I feel ashamed. I am exhausted after dealing with this for eight months. The injustice happening is beyond words. Public trust in the system is being destroyed,” the lawyer said.
Talking about the trial courts, the lawyer said: “These courts are not giving bail. Even if bail is granted, still the accused remain in custody. Whatever the allegations, or their sources, a court is supposed to make its determination based on evidence.
“There is no scope to listen to ‘stories’ outside the evidence, whether it’s the lower courts or the higher courts. They have to give their decisions based on what is presented to them. But they are now forced to hear these ‘stories’.
“They are under direct or indirect pressure,” he added, and said “Without following any procedure, judges are being arbitrarily sent on ‘leave’.”
Citing an example, he said: “We recently helped one of my clients in Khagarachari, who has been a journalist with such newspapers as New Age and Samakal, secure bail in five cases. He was falsely implicated in five cases.
“When we submitted our bail bond (documents) to the jail authorities in all five cases, they told the detained person that another case would be filed against him in 5/6 days, and hence he cannot be released!
“We have received news that the journalist has been falsely implicated in five more cases.
“What does it say about the state of judicial independence when a journalist gets falsely implicated in case after case?
“There is no one to speak about this.”
