Tabarak Lakshmipur Correspondent: Due to a bail case in the Lakshmipur District Magistrate’s Court, attorneys boycotted a judge’s court. Lawyers and court employees battled during this time. Ashrafuzzaman, the court’s stenographer, was among the three injured. The incident happened in the afternoon of Sunday, June 15. The court boycott had a negative impact on the trial seekers.
The lawyers’ boycott of the court is still in effect as of this writing, Monday, June 16. If the ruling is not reached by noon, the entire court will be boycotted, according to an attorney who wished to remain anonymous.
According to the court, police, and a few witnesses, on June 6, Abu Tayyab, an attorney from the nearby District Judge’s Court, filed a theft case against Ahmed Kausar Uddin Zaman (35), a lecturer in the English department of Raipur’s Principal Kazi Farooqui School and College, at Sadar Police Station.
In the case, two more people have been charged. In that case, the defendants Kausar and Rubel were taken into custody and imprisoned. They were granted bail by Senior Judicial Magistrate Court-3 Judge M Saiful Islam on June 10. Attorneys, including Bar Association executives, responded vehemently to this right away.
The case alleges that there is a previous dispute between the plaintiff and the defendants. Late on the night of June 5, the defendants cut down an iron gate in front of the plaintiff’s building in Ward No. 7 of the Sadar Municipality and took him towards Raipur city in a pickup truck.
When the pickup truck went to the Raipur Basabari area, the patrol police stopped it. At that time, the driver Rubel was arrested and the police seized the vehicle. In the case, the plaintiff mentioned a loss of 2.5 lakh taka.
According to sources from the court, the accused requested bail on June 9. In their request, the accused stated that because the plaintiffs in the case are lawyers, no attorney was willing to represent them during the bail hearing. Consequently, the accused could not secure legal representation and sought help from the Lakshmipur Legal Aid Office for the bail proceedings. Although two lawyers were approached to handle the hearing, they refrained from participating due to concerns about potential harassment.
Conversely, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs opposed the bail for the defendants.
It has also been reported that the accused filed for bail on June 9, but the following day, June 10, the bail hearing was postponed pending the submission of documents, while the investigating officer requested a five-day remand.
Upon reviewing the case, the court found that the accused did not have the chance to attend the bail hearing because regular court operations were suspended due to Eid-ul-Azhar and their subsequent arrests. They were held in custody for four days. Although the accused was taken into custody on June 6, they could not secure a lawyer for the bail hearing since the plaintiff is an attorney. The lawyers from the Legal Aid Office also expressed their unwillingness to take part in the hearing. With regular court proceedings halted until June 14 for the Eid holiday, and given that there were no significant allegations under the non-bailable section, both applications were dismissed after hearing from both parties.
The court denied the remand request for the accused and granted bail to Kausar and Rubel on a bond of 100 taka, to be held by a respected individual, taking into account their four-day detention and the Eid holiday. Following the granting of bail, the lawyers expressed their displeasure, taking to Facebook to demand the judge’s removal.
The normal functioning of the Lakshmipur court resumed on Sunday (June 15) after the Eid closure. During this time, the Bar Association held a meeting and announced a boycott of the court of Judge M Saiful Islam of that court. The trial seekers have been present in the judge’s room since morning till noon. The boycott of the judge’s court is continuing today (June 16) as well, on Monday.
Some eyewitnesses said that the judge was sitting in the courtroom. At that time, seven to eight lawyers entered the room and announced a boycott of the court. This caused a commotion. To control the situation, the judge asked the court employees to close the doors. At that time, a scuffle broke out between the lawyers and the employees. Ashrafuzzaman, the court stenographer, was injured and bleeding. The judge left the courtroom without completing the trial.
Injured Ashrafuzzaman said, “When I went to close the door on the judge’s order because the lawyers were making a commotion, the lawyers attacked me. This left me with a bloody wound next to my left eye.”
Among the lawyers present, Advocate Ashiqur Rahman said that some lawyers went to the court to inform about the boycott of the court. The court employees attacked them instead. He himself was injured in this.
District Bar Association General Secretary Advocate Md. Rafiq Ullah said, “The accused broke down the gate of lawyer Abu Tayyab’s house and stole it. They were caught red-handed. The investigating officer of the case applied for remand. A lawyer for the accused was also present at the hearing. The judge rejected the remand hearing and granted bail on a bond of only 100 taka. Hastily granting bail to the accused carries other meanings. When we opposed bail, the judge did not take it into account. We feel that the plaintiff did not get justice because he is a lawyer. Therefore, we have informed the district judge and the relevant authorities and have decided to boycott the court until the judge is removed.
“When the court proceedings started at 10 am on Sunday, we just went to the courtroom and announced our decision. There was no commotion or attack. We didn’t even know about it.”
