Bogura judge withdrawn after school incident

Additional District and Sessions Judge Begum Rubaiya Yeasmin was withdrawn from Bogura yesterday and attached to the law ministry for forcing the mother of a student in the district to touch her feet and beg forgiveness.

The government took the step in consultation with Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique.

Law and Justice Division Secretary Md Golam Sarwar told The Daily Star that the ministry received an allegation against Rubaiya Yeasmin from its own capacity and media reports and took the decision.

He said Rubaiya Yeasmin now cannot carry out judicial functions or any work at the ministry though she will get her salary and other financial benefits. A notification has already been issued to this effect.

Supreme Court Registrar General Md Golam Rabbani told this correspondent that Rubaiya Yeasmin has been withdrawn from Bogura following an instruction from the chief justice.

The law ministry had sent a letter to the Supreme Court for a decision from the chief justice after receiving the allegation against the judge, he added.

Rubaiya Yeasmin's daughter is an eighth grader of Bogura Government Girls' High School. According to school rules, all students are supposed to clean their classrooms by turn, but the judge's daughter never complied it.

On Monday, it was her turn along with three other students. As she refused to sweep the classroom, the other three also declined to do the work in protest, said school sources.

On Monday night, the girl reportedly took to social media and wrote a post boasting that she was the daughter of a judge, and ridiculed the social status of other students.

The other three students took screenshots of her post and shared those in their Facebook group.

On Tuesday, the judge went to the school and asked the class teacher to call in the three students and their parents.

When they came to the school with their mothers, the judge threatened to file a cybercrime case against them, claiming that they wrote "derogatory words" on Facebook insulting her and her daughter.

The judge, in presence of teachers, also compelled the mother of one student to touch her feet and beg pardon for "insulting" her on social media.