Judge impeachment: Bar council calls court boycott for Monday

Bangladesh Bar Council has announced a countrywide court boycott programme for Monday demanding cancellation of the latest amendment to the constitution.

The bar council leaders in a view-exchange meeting with different bar association leaders from across the country today also decided to stage black-flag demonstrations tomorrow.

Mahbub Uddin Khokon, a member of the bar council, a statutory autonomous body, which is dominated by pro-BNP lawyers, proposed the agitation programme which was later endorsed by bar association leaders through voice vote at the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Auditorium in Dhaka.

At the meeting, Khokan, also SCBA secretary, demanded abolition of the amendment brought to the constitution’s section Article 96, empowering the parliament to impeach Supreme Court judges for misbehaviour and incapacity.

Parliament on Wednesday unanimously passed the 16th constitutional amendment bill, empowering itself to remove the SC judges, rejecting all calls for soliciting public opinion and bringing some changes to the bill.