A High Court verdict pronounced in 2018 barring people jailed for two years or above from joining parliamentary elections was published on the website of the Supreme Court on Sunday.
The bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice KM Hafizul Alam pronounced the verdict on November 28, 2018 after hearing appeals of five convicted leaders of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
The verdict was posted on the Supreme Court website on Sunday considering its importance, a court official told New Age.
Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan, who appeared for the Anti-Corruption Commission in the appeals of BNP leaders Aman Ullah Aman, AZM Zahid Hossain, Mashiur Rahman, MA Wahhab and Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan, said that he received the copy of the verdict in 2021.
Khurshid said that a lower court on September 10, 2023 sent Aman to jail after the HC bench on May 30, 2023 upheld his 13-year jail term rejecting his appeal while appeals of Zahid, Wadud, Mashiur and Wahhab remained pending.
The convicted BNP leaders petitioned to the High Court for staying their convictions and sentences until disposal of their appeals to enable them to join the 11th parliamentary elections.
In the 2018 order, the court also said that a member of parliament would vacate the seat if s/he was elected hiding jail term of two years or above.
Former Appellate Division judge Md Abdul Matin told New Age on Sunday that the latest High Court decision highlighted contradictory verdicts delivered by the High Court Division and the Appellate Division on the issue at times possibly keeping some important people in the mind.
Separate decisions of the Appellate Division permitted former military ruler HM Ershad and Awami League leader Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir to join parliamentary elections, he recalled.
Justice Matin observed that the Appellate Division verdict in Ershad’s case would prevail, according to the Article 111 of the constitution.
‘Even a person who has been lawfully elected in the election of the parliament but subsequently convicted and sentenced, in that case, as per the provision of Article 67(1)(d), the seat as member of parliament will automatically be vacated,’ said the latest High Court order.
About the prayers of the five BNP leaders, the court said, ‘Though the convict-appellant-petitioners have been enlarged on bail, the question of suspension of conviction does not arise at all.’
It said, ‘The convict-appellant-petitioners are debarred from participating in election of Parliament unless a period of 5 years has elapsed since their release or their conviction and sentence are set aside by the apex court in view of Article 66(2)(d) of the Constitution.’
The court further said, ‘Section 426 of the Code of the Criminal Procedure allowed suspension of the execution of a sentence or order upon appeal, but it does not provide for the suspension of the conviction itself.’
It said, ‘The suspension of the sentence does not nullify the conviction, and it remains in effect until set aside on appeal.’
New Age
