The court defied threats while carrying out the trial of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case, cheif justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has said.
“Witnesses couldn’t be found during the trial. The Dhaka district and sessions judge Kazi Golam Rosul gave the verdict overcoming intimidation,” he told a function on Monday.
The chief justice recalled that the death confirmation of the condemned convicts was also made amid hostility.
“However, I don’t want to talk about them,” justice SK Sinha said at the inauguration of the blood donation programme on the Supreme Court premises, marking National Mourning Day.
He said the judiciary has never backed down, adding that “The judiciary has come forward at every critical juncture of the nation.”
“Among the three branches of the state, the judiciary has always been undermined,” the chief justice regretted.
He went on saying, “Some quarters even hesitate to call it a branch of the state. We have never revealed this before. There were lots of criticisms against the judiciary during the Bangabandhu assassination trial, but our senior judges never backed down.”
The chief justice described himself as lucky for being involved in the Bangabandhu murder trial.
Mentioning the contributions of the judiciary to the trial, SK Sinha said, “The then government issued indemnity ordinance after the murder of Bangabandhu. When the (Awami League) government revoked the ordinance, the Appellate Division upheld the government decision after it was challenged in the court. Thus trial in the Bangabandhu and his family murder case was possible.”
He said, “The judiciary conducted trial not only in Bangabandhu murder case, but also for jail killing. We annulled the 5th and 8th amendments to the constitution, gave verdict over the 13th amendment. The 16th amendment to the constitution is a sub-judice issue, so, let’s not make any comment.”
Source: Prothom Alo