SC lawyers to abstain from proceedings for 2 hrs Thursday

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) yesterday decided to stay away from moving cases in the Appellate Division for two hours from 9:00am Thursday to protest against a few recent judgments delivered by the apex court.
It also decided not to bid farewell to the incumbent chief justice and felicitate his replacement.
The SCBA took the decision at an urgent general meeting with SCBA President Barrister Shafique Ahmed in the chair, held at Shamsul Huq Chowdhury Hall.
The lawyers called for a specific date for holding of a free and fair general election withdrawing the state of emergency in order to establish democracy and rule of law in the country.
They also demanded that the government withdraw all false and motivated cases against political leaders and stop misuse of the Emergency Power Rules (EPR).
The meeting adopted a resolution expressing disappointment over and surprise at a few judgments of the Appellate Division.
The resolution said the Appellate Division judges had violated their oaths by ruling that accused in cases filed under the EPR cannot apply for bail and all cases including the ones filed before the promulgation of the EPR could be tried under the emergency rules.
It said the Appellate Division judgments were against the fundamental rights and rule of law.
Former SCBA presidents Barrister M Amir-Ul Islam and Advocate Mahbubey Alam, Barrister Rafique-ul Huq, Advocate Nurul Islam Sujan, Advocate Zainul Abedin and Advocate M Enayetur Rahim, among others, addressed meeting.