CJ 'forced' to resign: Moudud

BNP Standing Committee Member Moudud Ahmed today blamed the government for “forcing Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha to resign from his post”.

“The entire nation has plunged into a severe setback due to the resignation of Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha,” Moudud said while addressing a function at Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka this afternoon.

“Sinha’s resignation day will be marked as a black chapter,” Moudud said accusing the government of “smashing independence in the judiciary by forcing him (Sinha) to stay aside from his post”.

Earlier in the day, Joynal Abedin, press secretary to the president, said Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has resigned from his office.

Now abroad, Justice Sinha sent his resignation letter to Bangabhaban, the official residence of President Abdul Hamid, this morning, Joynal Abedin told The Daily Star this afternoon.

Claiming that the “verdict on the 16th amendment to the constitution has gone against interest of the government”, Moudud said, “Sinha has been victimised of revenge of the government.”

“The government has attacked Sinha personally in a collective way which incurred a huge institutional loss,” Moudud said adding that the government could go for a review petition against the verdict on the 16th amendment without doing so.