Judge stand released after order to send ex-MP, wife to jail
Hours after sending a former Awami League lawmaker and his wife to jail, a Pirojpur district and sessions judge was stand-released yesterday over corruption allegations and attached to the law ministry.
Law ministry and Supreme Court (SC) sources said the ministry passed the order following the approval of the SC.
The ministry had earlier received graft allegations against Judge Abdul Mannan, and departmental proceedings were going on against him.
The ministry sources, however, did not give any details about the allegations.
Contacted, Law Minister Anisul Huq declined to comment and said, "I want to remain impartial".
Earlier in the day, the court of Judge Mannan ordered the authorities concerned to send former AL MP AKMA Awal and his wife Laila Parvin to jail, rejecting their bail prayers in three corruption cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) last year.
The ex-MP of the Pirojpur-1 constituency, also president of the district AL, is accused in three cases filed for leasing khas (government) land using fake documents.
His wife is accused in one case.
Judge Mannan passed the order when Awal and his wife appeared before it with bail prayers, our Pirojpur correspondent reports, quoting ACC lawyer Mansur Uddin Hawladar.
After the order was passed, supporters of Awal started demonstrations on the court premises.
Later, Awal and his wife got bail from another court in the district.
Joint District and Sessions Judge Nahid Nasrin, who has been given the responsibility of acting district and sessions judge of Pirojpur, granted them bail after they moved a review petition, said Awal's lawyer Shahidul Haque Khan Panna.
In the petition, the couple said they were sick.
The lawyer, also general secretary of Pirojpur Bar Association, said Judge Mannan was no more a judge of Pirojpur as he had been transferred.
ACC Deputy Director Ali Akbar filed the cases with the commission's integrated district office in Barishal on December 30 last year.
On January 7, Awal and his wife were granted ad-interim bail from the High Court.
Later, the SC upheld the HC order after the anti-graft watchdog appealed for cancelling their bail.
Awal was MP from Pirojpur-1 for two consecutive terms in 2008 and 2014.
According to one case statement, the former lawmaker took lease of khas land using fake documents and built a three-storey building on it.
The building was rented out to Nazirpur office of Pirojpur Palli Bidyut Samity for Tk 17,250 a month from October 1, 2017.
Meanwhile, rights body Ain o Salish Kendra yesterday expressed concern over demonstrations and setting up of roadblocks after the authorities had been ordered to send the couple to jail.
In a press release, it said it believes that a public representative and their followers must support the country's judicial system. It said such demonstration might send the message that a former or incumbent lawmaker is above the law.
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