Condition of court is grave: Rafique
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Rafique-ul Huq on Tuesday said the culture of changing verdicts with changes in power must be stopped to ensure human rights, justice and democratic progress.
'Judgements are not being pronounced on the merit of the cases. The same judge is pronouncing judgements differently on a similar issue with changes in power,' he said at a session of the Bangladesh Tomorrow colloquium on human rights, democracy and governance organised by the Centre for Sustainable Development at the Sheraton Hotel.
'I think enforcement of human rights needs establishment of rule of law. And to establish rule of law, the court needs to be independent, courageous and should not consider any party affiliation. I fear contempt rule might be issued to me for saying so. Somewhere I had said it becomes contemptuous for them if anyone sneezes and the court issued a contempt rule to me,' said the senior lawyer.
He said, 'The condition of court is really grave. No one will go to court unless he commits a great amount of sin.'If the whimsical acts of judges are not stopped, human rights cannot be established, said Rafique, also a former attorney general.
The government has enacted a law regarding human rights and defined it from a very wider spectrum but the question is how to implement it, he said. 'If you go to Court 1, you will get a type of judgment and if you go to Court 5, the judgment will be different.'
He also alleged that sometimes the verdict depends on who is moving the case.
'We the lawyers often say among us that someone went to Jamaat's court,some one to Awami League's court, another went to BNP's court. We feel sorry for this. Think of the level we have degraded to. How could you establish human rights with such a condition of court?' he said.
Citing Mahmudur Rahman's case, Rafique said the court sentenced him to six months' imprisonment with a fine of Tk 1 lakh, although the law stipulated a fine of Tk 2000. 'The same court later awarded a month's imprisonment and a fine of Tk 100 in a similar case,,' he said.
'While press freedom is essential for enforcement of democratic ideals and human rights, see how Mahmudur Rahman has been treated for writing the truth,' the said.
Rafique said the government was not solely responsible for the situation in court, the opposition also shared the responsibility. 'Not only is the government responsible for the condition of court, the opposition is also equally responsible. Why does not the opposition go to the parliament? Were not the elected? They can boycott the parliament for some time but how could they decide not go to the house at all?'
He said he was was happy at the institution of Human Rights Commission with the status of its chairman same as that of a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court.'If the commission wishes, it can do a lot for human rights enforcement. If it applies the authority bestowed on it, it could change the human rights scenario,' he said.
Awami League leader Mahmudur Rahman Manna, also a former vice-president of Dhaka University Central Students' Union, said the parliament was similar to a one-person rule. The prime minister of Bangladesh is the goddess and things move in whatever direction she talks of. 'There are many talks about amending the constitution but will Article 70 would ever be changed?' he said.
Mahmudur said the intelligentsia should be vocal about human rights issues. 'There is court ruling on the constitution. Talks are on to restore secularism and cabinet yesterday [Monday] resolved to carry out the job after consulting the political parties, especially the parties based on religion,' he said.
Dhaka University law professor Borhan Uddin Khan read out the keynote paper at the discussion, also attended by BRAC University professor Piash Karim, New Age editor Nurul Kabir and Bangladesh Human Rights Foundation chairman Alena Khan.
http://www.newagebd.com/2010/oct/20/front.html
Barrister Rafiqul Huq on judgements of higher courts
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