Won’t fall in trap of govt or opposition: CJ

Chief Justice (CJ) Surendra Kumar Sinha has said the Supreme Court will not fall into the ‘trap’ of criticism either by the ruling party or the opposition.

He also requested all to criticize the Supreme Court judgement constructively.

His attention was drawn to former chief justice ABM Khairul Haque’s remarks on the judgement, when he was presiding over the Appellate Division bench on Thursday.

Following the verdict that stripped off parliament’s power to remove judges, Khairul Haque, currently Law Commission chairman, on Wednesday said, “It seems to me that Bangladesh is no longer a people’s republic. It has become a judges’ republic of Bangladesh.”

As Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Joynul Abedin termed Haque’s remarks contempt of court, the chief justice said, “Please do not bring politics in protecting independence of the judiciary. We have delivered the verdict. The judiciary will not issue any rejoinder.”

However, the law minister Anisul Huq said at a press conference at the Secretariat that he has respect for the verdict given by the Appellate Division of the SC though he disagrees with it.

“We have decided to take initiative to expunge the objectionable and irrelevant observations made by the chief justice in the judgement,” said the law minister.