Verdicts not delivered in court found written

This has been revealed in an official investigation, court sources said here yesterday.

The verdicts were on four cases (No 71/97, 39/01, 93/2000 and178/98) regarding government land.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

The assistant judge was transferred to Cox's Bazar from Assamuni upazila. He had handed over charge to another Assistant Judge on March 21, 2002.

But before his departure after charge handover, he wrote the verdicts.

This came to light when the lawyers concerned knew about the verdicts from others, which were not pronounced in the court but shown pronounced.

Advocate Shahidullah (2) lodged a complaint to the Satkhira District and Sessions Judge against the assistant judge.

The anomaly was detected after records of the cases were seized from Assassuni Upazila Assistant Judge's court on orders from the District and Sessions Judge. A report was sent to the ministry.

The ministry initiated a departmental case (no 02/2002) against the Assistant Judge and asked Additional District Judge GMS Farid to probe the matter.

He recorded statements of four people including advocate Shahidullah (2) and completed the probe on Sunday. The report will be sent to the ministry soon, the sources said.