Pro-BNP lawyers seek CJ’s intervention over detaining lawyers
Staff Reporter :
Pro-BNP lawyers of the Supreme Court seek the Chief Justice’s intervention over the sudden detention of two Narayanganj lawyers from their chambers without any specific allegations.
They made the demand at a press conference held at the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) building on Wednesday.
Pro-BNP elected members of the Bangladesh Bar Council and some senior lawyers organized the event in protest of picking up two lawyers, Khorshed Alam Mollah and Siddiqur Rahman, from their chambers in Narayanganj on October 23 by the law enforcers.
In a written statement, Bar Council member Advocate Zainul Abedin said, “As the institutional head of the judiciary, we expect the Chief Justice will take effective measures regarding the incident so that the dignity of the legal profession remains upheld.
No citizen of the country should be subjected to such police harassment and torture.”
He further said, “After keeping them in DB custody overnight, they were released on October 24 in the face of protests by the lawyers.
No complaint or case is pending against them. We are surprised that they have been picked up from their professional chambers.
Now the lawyers are panicked to run the profession. We strongly condemn and protest this incident. At the same time, I am demanding the formulation of a lawyer protection law for the sake of conducting the profession independently.”
He said, “There is no good governance in the country. Since an unelected government has been in power for a long time and they are using the law enforcement agencies arbitrarily for party work to stay in power in the same process, the law enforcers of the state have lost their professionalism and are behaving like a political worker of the ruling party. The latest victims of their illegal activities are two lawyers of Narayanganj.”
The lawyers also sought the release of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Central Committee Publicity Secretary and Bangladesh Lawyers Council’s General Secretary Advocate Matiur Rahman Akanda.
The police arrested Matiur Rahman Akanda from his house in Uttara area of Dhaka around 11:30 am on Wednesday.
Bangladesh Bar Council members Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Barrister Ruhul Quddus Kazal, Senior Advocates Subrata Chowdhury, Mohsin Rashid, among others, were present at the press conference.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Am Amin Uddin said he doesn’t support any detention or arrest of any lawyer without any specific allegation against them. He said this in a reaction at his office after the press conference of the pro-BNP lawyers.
