Ashutosh Sarkar

Nine years after the mindless communal attacks on the Buddhist community in Ramu upazila of Cox’s Bazar, the victims are yet to get justice as no significant progress has been made in the proceedings of cases.

With the national elections about two years away, the framing of a specific law as mandated by the constitution for appointments of election commissioners is back to the fore against the backdrop of widespread mistrust in the Election Commission and an alarming apathy among voters.

With backlogs of pending cases piling up due to crisis of judges, the government does not seem to have any specific plan to appoint new judges to the Appellate and High Court divisions of the Supreme Court any time soon to increase the rate of case disposal.

Two lower court judges have apologised to the High Court for their “unintended mistakes and faults” in placing actor Pori Moni on remand in phases in a narcotics case.

The High Court has slammed and cautioned Judge Md Iqbal Hossain of Special Judge Court-5 of Dhaka for hurriedly and secretly granting bail to Partha Gopal Banik, a suspended deputy inspector general (prisons) in Sylhet division, in a case filed over the recovery of Tk 80 lakh from his Dhaka home.

The High Court has said the investigation officer  disregarded the Supreme Court guidelines and laws in seeking remand for actor Pori Moni for the second and third time in a narcotics case.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has no authority to freeze, attach or impose any restrictions on anybody’s property without permission from the court, the High Court has observed in a verdict.

The High Court in the full text of a verdict has come down hard on the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for its failure to complete investigations and submitting their reports to the lower courts concerned in connection with corruption cases on time.

The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs yesterday submitted a meeting resolution centring the construction of an independence monument at the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan to the High Court. The resolution, however, did not specify any decisions on whether the old and ecologically important trees will be cut.

Final justice has yet to be delivered over the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally on the capital’s Bangabandhu Avenue, even almost three years after a trial court found 49 people guilty.

Twelve years have gone by since the trial of our history’s most tragic assassination has been completed, but the five self-confessed killers could not be brought back to the country for execution.

The attempt of perpetrators to kill Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by detonating bombs in Gopalganj in 2000 is an ignominious chapter for the nation, the HC said in the full text of the verdict on the Kotalipara bomb plot case.

The Supreme Court buildings, most of which were constructed in the beginning of the 20th century, stand still with an eerie calm hanging all over the premises.

The High Court could not deliver its decision on a judicial inquiry committee’s findings over the dengue outbreak in 2019 even 16 months after the submission of the probe report.

The government is yet to inform the High Court about its decision over the old and ecologically important trees at the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan, although the court wanted to know about it more than three weeks back.

Life imprisonment means 30 years in jail and a convict awarded such a sentence should get remission of seven and a half years as per the laws, according to a Supreme Court judgement.

The High Court has thrown a lifeline to People’s Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (PLFSL) as it constituted a 10-member board to run the troubled non-bank financial institution, thus saving it from potential liquidation.

The High Court has appointed five independent directors to the much-talked about International Leasing and Financial Services for smoothly running operations as it had incurred a loss of around Tk 3,000 crore.

The High Court is expected to start its hearing soon on the death reference and appeals of the Holey Artisan attack case, as the case paper book has already been prepared by the office concerned of the court.

The High Court yesterday acquitted a death-row prisoner convicted of killing his wife in Gournadi, Barishal, in 2010.