Dinajpur mayor jailed for a month for derogatory comments on judge

The Supreme Court today sentenced Dinajpur Municipality Mayor Syed Jahangir Alam to one month's imprisonment and fined him Tk 1 lakh for making derogatory remark on one of its judges.

The Appellate Division of the SC ordered Jahangir to surrender before the lower court concerned of Dinajpur in a week in connection with the contempt of court petition filed against him.

Law enforcers will arrest him if he fails to surrender before the court within that time, the apex court said in the order.

A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan delivered the verdict following the contempt of court petition filed by four lawyers seeking necessary directives.

The four other judges are: Justice Borhanuddin, Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Md Abu Zafor Siddique.

On August 18, the Appellate Division issued a contempt of court notice against Jahangir asking him to explain why he should not be punished for the remarks.

Jahangir, who is the assistant organising secretary (Rangpur division) of BNP's central committee, appeared before the Appellate Division this morning.

Earlier, Jahangir made comments on a YouTube channel about Justice M Enayetur Rahim, a senior judge of the Appellate Division, centring a judgement in a case against BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia.

After that, four lawyers -- Mohammad Harun-Or-Rashid, Mahfuzur Rahman Roman, Md Moniruzzaman Rana and Shafique Raihan Shawon -- submitted the petition.

The SC also directed the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission chairman to immediately remove the video containing Jahangir's comments.