- Tuesday, March 11, 2025
The court had asked the attorney general to inform the steps taken by the government regarding ISKCON’s recent activities
By: Shajil Kumar
THE HIGH COURT in Dhaka on Thursday refused to pass a suo motu order on banning ISKCON’s activities in Bangladesh after it was informed that the government authorities have taken necessary measures, The Daily Star said.
Supreme Court lawyer Md Monir Uddin placed some newspaper reports about International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) before the HC bench on Wednesday and had prayed for a suo motu order to the government to ban the organisation and impose Section 144 in Chattogram, Rangpur and Dinajpur.
The court had asked the attorney general to inform the steps taken by the government regarding ISKCON’s recent activities.
When the proceedings started on Thursday, the attorney general’s office placed the information before the HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debasish Roy Chowdhury.
The bench hoped that the government must remain cautious about protecting the law and order situation and lives and properties of the people of Bangladesh, The Daily Star added.
They came up with the remark after Additional Attorney General Aneek R Haque and Deputy Attorney General Md Asad Uddin informed the HC bench that three separate cases have been filed in connection with the murder of lawyer Saiful Islam Alif and ISKCON’s activities, and 33 accused have been arrested in these cases.
Chief Justice’s concern
Bangladesh’s Chief Justice Dr Syed Refaat Ahmed on Thursday said untoward incidents in the country’s apex and lower courts deeply concerned him after a lawyers’ group tried to assault a Supreme Court judge in an open courtroom and another lawyer was killed in the past two days.
In a rare such statement, Ahmed said he was “deeply concerned” about the recent incidents in the Supreme Court and events within judicial premises nationwide.
He said: “All developments are being closely monitored to ensure the judicial processes remain undisturbed despite the challenges”.
The chief justice said his office implemented “comprehensive measures” within the Supreme Court as well as in district judgeships and magistracies to prevent a recurrence of such incidents and asked all courts and tribunals to continue their functions normally.
On Wednesday, a group of lawyers stormed the courtroom and threw eggs at Justice Mohammad Ashraful Kamal as a hearing was underway, forcing him to abruptly end the session and leave with a fellow judge.
The lawyers alleged Kamal made “negative comments about late president Ziaur Rahman in a verdict” in 2016.
In a near-simultaneous incident, another lawyers’ group confined High Court Division’s Registrar Munshi Moshiar Rahman to his office for some time and removed his nameplate from the office saying he was an aide of the fascist government ousted in a student-led upsurge on August 5.
A government prosecutor was killed on November 26 after clashes erupted when supporters of Hindu spiritual leader Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari blocked the prison van carrying him to jail after his bail plea was rejected.
Das was arrested in a sedition case. He was later denied bail by a court, triggering protests by community members in various locations, including the capital Dhaka and the port city of Chattogram.
In other developments, a sense of chaos visibly gripped the court premises in major Bangladesh cities while several leaders and close associates of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party were attacked by mobs during their court appearances despite police escorts. (PTI)
