Contempt Of Court: HC jails judge, then grants him bail

The High Court yesterday granted a 30-day bail to Additional District Judge- Sohel Rana, three hours after sentencing him to one month's imprisonment and slapping a fine of Tk 5,000 for contempt of court.

The HC convicted the judge for holding trial proceedings in a case despite an HC stay order.

The HC bench of Justice Md Badruzzaman and Justice S M Masud Hossain Dolon delivered the verdict around 11:30am. The same bench granted him the bail in the afternoon.

Sohel Rana was present before the HC bench during the delivery of the verdict, as well as during the hearing of his bail petition.

In another development in the afternoon, the Supreme Court chamber judge stayed the HC's conviction order till November 20.

Chamber judge of the Appellate Division Justice M Enayetur Rahim passed the order following a petition by Sohel Rana, seeking stay on the HC verdict.

The chamber judge sent the stay petition to its full bench for hearing on November 20.

The chamber judge stayed the HC verdict on the ground that Sohel Rana offered an unconditional apology to the HC, but it did not accept the apology, his lawyer Shah Monjurul Hoque told The Daily Star.

SC lawyers Shah Monjurul Hoque and Mohammad Shishir Manir said sentencing a chief judicial magistrate by the HC for contempt of court is unprecedented.

THE CASE

The government filed a case with Cumilla police in March 2017 against Mamun Chowdhury and his wife Ria Aktar over their alleged possession of some Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment.

Following a petition by the couple, the HC stayed the trial proceedings in November 2018.

Still, Sohel Rana framed charges against Mamun and Ria on April 10 this year, and declared Ria a fugitive as she was not present in the court that day. Sohel was a chief judicial magistrate then.

Their lawyer Pronay Kanti Roy brought this issue before the HC.

As ordered by the HC on August 14, Sohel appeared before the HC bench led by Md Badruzzaman on August 21, and submitted his written explanation on a later date.

On August 28, the HC expressed dissatisfaction at his explanation and issued a contempt of court rule against him.

Replying to the rule, Sohel offered an unconditional apology to the HC but used some "unacceptable and unnecessary" words for which the HC rejected his apology and convicted him, Pronay Kanti said.