We all know, the High Court and the Supreme Court is funny. Bnagledash does not have courts. This lady including the other one are guilty to downdrade Bangladesh to the bottom. Both should be tried and given jail for their enitre life.
If you think, Hasina is the savious, you are having a pipe dream. Both ladies have dumped Bangladesh to to the hole.
Shamim Chowdhury <veirsmill@yahoo.com> wrote:
Amit Talukder
Legal affairs correspondent
Dhaka, Feb 6 (bdnews24.com) – The High Court Wednesday scrapped an extortion case against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina after ruling illegal its trial under emergency powers rules. Full Story
The verdict is deemed crucial as it is expected to determine the fate of other similar cases marked for trial under emergency powers rules in a controversial move denying the accused the right to seek bail.
But the legal battle is far from over as the government filed a counter-appeal, just as quickly, with chamber judge Justice MA Matin, who forwarded the petition to the Appellate Division, without halting the HC verdict.
The hearing on the counter-appeal has been set for Thursday.
A two-member bench of Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Shahidul Islam handed down the judgement after starting delivering the verdict Tuesday on a writ appeal by Hasina.
After the judgement, defence lawyer barrister Rafiq-ul Haque told reporters: "Justice has prevailed. The High Court has cancelled the extortion case against Sheikh Hasina."
The defence argued that the incident that allegedly had taken place years before the declaration of the state of emergency could not be brought under the emergency rules.
A case taken under the cover of emergency rules means the accused lose the right to seek bail.
The case filed on June 13 charges the former prime minister with taking Tk 3 crore in extorted money from businessman Azam Jahangir Chowdhury to let him build a power plant during her 1996-2001 term.
The verdict is set to seal the fate of other cases pressed under similar circumstances.
WHAT THE COURT SAYS
In the verdict, the court said: "No law can be made, contradicting or undermining the basic rights of citizens championed in the constitution of the land."
"As per Articles 31-35 of the constitution, no law promulgated under emergency rule can curb any civic rights, including bail."
"The state of emergency promulgated on Jan 11, 2007 and the emergency powers rules made on Jan 25 said the EPR would be effective from Jan 12. Following amendments, it was declared that the EPR would be in force as long as the emergency rule stayed," the court said.
"In line with the Emergency Powers Ordinance, the caretaker government was empowered to make rules but cannot make rules that surpass the ordinance itself."
The court added: "The ordinance does not cover any crime committed before Jan 11."
"Whenever such situations arise, where the core law clashes with the rules, the core legal instrument will supersede all rules," the verdict said.
The EPR curbs the bail granting authority of all courts, including the Supreme Court, which contradicts sections 497 and 498 of the CrPC. The sections empower the court to grant bail to the accused in non-bailable cases, the HC judges said in the verdict.
"Whenever such laws curb any citizen's basic rights, it is done in violation of the CrPC sections. The Articles 27-35 of the constitution were not suspended or their jurisdiction curbed by the emergency, which means if any law contradicts the constitution, it must be scrapped."
"The court holds the right to repeal any such law and, once scrapped, such instruments cannot be used in any courtroom anymore," the court explained.
"No parliamentary law or presidential ordinance can undermine the citizen's rights."
The landmark verdict came a day after Hasina's lawyers said they no longer had confidence in the judge conducting the trial of the same case and wanted a new court to run the proceedings.
The defence lawyers said they doubted metropolitan sessions judge Md Azizul Haque would give a fair trial.
They also accused him of bias and circumventing proper legal procedures at the trial and were preparing to petition the High Court to shift the case from the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court set up on the parliament complex.
Hasina was arrested on July 16. The next day the case was taken under emergency rules and she was shown arrested in it.
On July 24, a chargesheet was submitted to the court accusing Hasina, sister Sheikh Rehana and their cousin Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim.
GOVERNMENT SIDE AND DRAMA
In a press briefing, additional attorney general Salahuddin Ahmed said: "I am not surprised by the judgement that has ruled illegal the trial of Sheikh Hasina under emergency rules. What has surprised me is, the court has cancelled the case."
The government filed the counter appeal as Ahmed alleged that the HC verdict was "not lawful".
Justice MA Matin, the chamber judge, did not initially accept the appeal as he left his chamber at 1:55pm for his courtroom.
Government lawyers then rushed to the courtroom of the judge-in-chamber where MA Matin "heard" the appeal and sent it to the full bench of the Appellate Division for Thursday's hearing.
The decision irked the defence lawyers who alleged that the chamber judge heard the government appeal in the absence of Hasina's lawyers.
"It was a unilateral decision," Barrister Rafiq-ul Haque said.
Law adviser Hassan Ariff declined to make any comment on the judgement.
"It is an Anticorruption Commission case. The commission will take a look at it," the adviser said to reporters at the Secretariat.
bdnews24.com/at/ra/wz/ my/bd/ad/ 1757 hours
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