Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury has asked Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha to leave Bangladesh, or get treatment at a mental hospital, following a bitter spat between the ruling Awami League and the CJ over the 16th Amendment verdict.
“You don’t like anything in Bangladesh. You should leave the country or get treatment in Hemayetpur,” the minister and senior Awami League leader said at a demonstration against some of Justice Sinha’s observations in the verdict on Sunday.
She added that the mental hospital at Hemayetpur (in Pabna) has not been commissioned for nothing and must to put to good use, implying to the CJ during the protest held in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka.
Ruling Awami League leaders, including ministers and MPs, even Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have been harshly criticizing the chief justice for the observations in the appeals verdict declaring the 16th amendment illegal.
The verdict has snatched the power of the parliament to sack judges on grounds of incompetency and misconduct, and gave it back to the Supreme Judicial Council.
The Awami League leaders allege that Justice Sinha insulted Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the parliament in the verdict.
Party affiliates and Awami League leaders have been demanding the resignation of the CJ following the verdict.
Bangladesh Medical Association organised the demonstration in front of the Press Club, alleging that the chief justice undermined the medical system.
“You have made many irrelevant comments in the verdict. You mentioned Fathers of the Nation! A woman identifies her children with only one father. A woman can have several husbands and that might be your personal issue. There is only one Father of the Nation – and that is Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, no one else,” minister Matia said in the rally.
She alleged that the Chief Justice was contriving against the state by making such comments in the month of August.
BMA President Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, General Secretary Ehteshamul Haque Chowdhury Dulal, Awami League Health Secretary Rokeya Sultana, and Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad or Swachip President Iqbal Arslan, among others, spoke at the programme.
Source: The Daily Ittefaq
