Hasina trial judge leaves courtroom amid chaos
Courtesy New Age 5/2/08
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The judge, M Azizul Haque, left the courtroom as the chaos began after the defence had protested against Azam Jahangir Chowdhury being allowed to give further deposition in the case against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana and her cousin Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim.
The furore began as the judge at about 9:35am allowed the prosecution to record further deposition of Azam, who filed the extortion case, and the defence protested at the move, saying the court was scheduled for cross-examination by the defence counsels, and not for deposition, as he gave his deposition on the first day of the proceedings on January 30.
The defence counsel, Quamrul Islam, continued protesting against the move. He said, ‘The matter was settled earlier. There is no need to repeat.’
As Azam said he had filed the first information report on June 13, 2007 with the Gulshan police, the defence protest against the correction saying that Azam on January 30 said he had filed the FIR on June 10, 2007.
The chief public prosecutor, Sharfuddin Ahmed Mukul, tossed case papers on the table and said, ‘I will not conduct the case in this court.’
Quamrul said, ‘The public prosecutor’s motive is not fair. He is even threatening the court.’
The court also raised objection to the correction and asked the complainant to say if he had something new to say. The judge said, ‘Such a correction is not possible now.’
When Sharfuddin asked Azam about the delay in filing the case, Azam said he felt he would not have got justice if he had then filed the case when a political government was in power.
As the court recorded further submission by Azam, the defence counsel, Quamrul Islam, said the court was scheduled for cross-examination on Monday and not for deposition.
The judge did not agree to the defence argument and said the court record of January 30 said the deposition would continue. ‘Go through my records. I wrote “to be continued”.’
Opposing the judge’s claim, Quamrul said the judge on January 30 scheduled Monday for cross-examination. He then protested against the court’s attitude and accused the court of being biased towards the prosecution.
Quamrul told the court, ‘You asked us to cross-examine the plaintiff after completing his deposition. But you are now saying that the plaintiff’s deposition will continue. You have done it under the influence of the state side. You cannot deliver justice this way.’
As Azam continued started submitting his deposition, the judge walked out of the courtroom at about 10:10am, without saying a word.
After about five minutes, the bench officer announced the hearing was adjourned for the day.
The prosecution and defence counsels then kept trading blames for about half an hour; they blamed each other for the judge’s leaving the courtroom.
Hasina, also the Awami League chief, and Sheikh Selim, also a former health minister, were standing in the dock amid the chaos in the makeshift courtroom on the Jatiya Sangsad complex.
After the court had been announced adjourned, the defence submitted a petition seeking that the day’s deposition should be scrapped in the interest of justice delivery.
As the bench officer refused to accept the petition on the ground of adjournment, Hasina said she would not leave the courtroom as long as the court would not accept the petition.
The court officer, in consultation with the judge, then submitted the petition with the court chamber.
Hasina and Sheikh Selim were than taken out of the courtroom at about 11:00am. The proceedings resume today.
Briefing newsmen outside the court, the prosecution levelled an allegation against the defence of prolonging the trial. The defence at another briefing said it was nothing but a plan to create an obstruction to fair trial.
Security in and around the Jatiya Sangsad complex was tightened. Several hundred leaders and activists of the Awami League and its fronts, with their mouths tied around with strips of black cloth, staged a sit-in near the Jatiya Sangsad complex.
On the first day of proceedings on January 30, the court witnessed grumbling on several occasions because of the shouting of the back-bencher lawyers and the judge warned the defence counsels of taking punitive action ‘to maintain decorum of the court for smooth trial proceeding if it repeats.’
Azam, the managing director of the East Coast Trading Pvt Ltd which is the local agent of Russian power company Technoprom Export, filed the case Hasina and Sheikh Selim accusing them of extorting Tk 2.99 crore for the installation of a 210MW thermal power plant at Siddhirganj.
Hasina’s sister, Sheikh Rehana, who now lives in the
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