Ashutosh Sarkar

Since the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division has been facing an acute shortage of judges, some new judges will be appointed anytime soon for gearing up its functions and increasing the rate of case disposal.

The High Court over four years ago had asked the authorities concerned to give within 60 days a compensation of Tk 17.11 crore to the families of the victims of a 2003 launch accident in the Meghna river.

Syed Mahmud Hossain, the current chief justice, will retire tomorrow, as he will turn 68 the day after that.

About four years have passed since the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court decided in favour of restoring the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) as laid out in Article 96 of the Constitution through the verdict of the 16th Amendment case.

With the historic Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord stepping into its 24th year today, some legal complexities involving the issues of CHT Regional Council are still now awaiting the final settlements.

She was only five years old when she went missing.

The clock struck around four in the morning.

As she sits on her wheelchair, eleven-year-old Setu (real name withheld) can feel the discomfort of her extra-large baby diapers and a urinary catheter leading to a collection bag. 

The High Court has castigated global tech giants, including Google, Facebook and Yahoo, for not paying income tax to the government of Bangladesh.

The backlog of war crimes cases and related appeals at the International Crimes Tribunal and the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court is growing as their proceedings remain halted for about 20 months due to the pandemic and other reasons.

Accident is undoubtedly a regular phenomenon in the country. Families or well-wishers of accident victims approach the higher court of the country seeking appropriate compensation.

Judges of lower courts are not following the relevant laws and Supreme Court directives while issuing orders on remand prayers, the High Court has observed.

The National Human Rights Commission had recommended shutting down the dens of Rajarbagh Darbar Shareef’s Pir Dillur Rahman and its branches to stop them using religion to deceive people and grab property by filing false cases.

In the full text of Jhumon Das’s bail order, the High Court observed that invoking the three sections of the Digital Security Act, for which he was in jail over six months, was debatable.

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.