Shawdesh Desk:

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the agitating pro-Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawyers not to hold rallies, processions and demonstrations against the judges and the courts following a suo motu High Court verdict of 2005.

The High Court issued a ban on rallies and demonstrations on May 23, 2005 while the Pro-AL lawyers were boycotting of the courts and obstructing general lawyers from entering into courts.

A four judges bench, chaired by chief justice Hasan Foez Siqqique, issued the fresh directive to follow the High Court ban on rallies after accepting a contempt petition for hearing on October 19.

The petition which was filed by Pro-Awami League lawyer Md Nazmul Huda, with the Appellate Division on Tuesday,  sought  contempt of the court ruling against seven pro-BNP lawyers for holding regular demonstrations on the court compound demanding the removal of two judges.

As Nazmul’s lawyer Nahid Sultana Juthi stood before the judges and requested the court to hear the contempt petition, the court asked her to sit down, stating that the matter would be heard after the end of the Supreme Court vacation on October 19.

The Supreme Court would go on vacation from September 1 and it would reopen on October 10.

The chief justice will retire on September 30 and the August 30 was his last working days.

The seven lawyers have been leading pro-BNP lawyers’ demonstrations, demanding the chief justice keep Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique out of the court.

Demonstrators alleged that the two judges violated their oath as judges by delivering speeches like ruling party leaders at a discussion organised by the Supreme Court Administration marking National Mourning Day on August 15.

Lawyer Nazmul Huda, who is also a leader of the Gaibandha Juba League, filed the contempt petition against former attorney general AJ Mohammad Ali, Fahima Nasrin Munni, Kayser Kamal, Md Abdul Jabbar Bhuiyan, Md Ruhul Quddus Kazal, Gazi Kamrul Islam Sajal, and Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman.

All the lawyers are leaders of the Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, a platform for pro-BNP lawyers.

None of Pro-BNP Lawyers, including the seven lawyers accused of contempt of the court, turned up to the court on Wednesday.

Several hundred pro-AL lawyers and government law officers gathered in the court room.

Pro-AL lawyer Nahid Sultana Juthi, on behalf of petitioner Nazmul Huda, her junior, appeared before the three-judge bench, led by chief justice Hasan Foez Siddique.

Juthi requested the chief justice to enlist the contempt petition for hearing.

The chief justice asked Juthi to submit the contempt petition to his secretary.

On Tuesday, the chief justice constituted a four-member bench, excluding Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique, to hear the contempt petition on Wednesday.

Lawyer Nazmul Huda, in his petition, prayed for an order for a proceeding of contempt of court against the seven lawyers to punish them for making ‘scandalous, derogatory, and contemptuous’ comments against the two Appellate Division judges at a press conference held at the Supreme Court Bar Association’s building on August 27.

He said that the seven lawyers, despite being officers of the highest rank, showed an ‘audacious display of disobedience and willful disregard to the honourable Appellate Division’ by giving an ultimatum to the chief justice to keep the two judges out of the court in 48 hours.

He said that the scandalous and derogatory comments of the seven lawyers were published and broadcast live on electronic and social media.

According to demonstrators, Justice M Enayetur Rahim termed the Supreme Court judges ‘oath-bound politicians’ at the National Mourning Day discussion on August 15.

‘Elections are held all over the world, and no one even looks at them. Why are all eyes on Bangladesh centring the elections,’ a demonstrator quoted Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique as saying at the same discussion.