Three lawyers including BNP lawmaker Syeda Asifa Ashrafi Papiya were arrested on Thursday afternoon just after a High Court judge felt embarrassed to hear their bail plea in connection with a criminal case filed against them. The other two lawyers are Towhidul Islam and his associate Abu Bakar Siddiqiue Rajan.
The 10 others accused lawyers are now under surveillance of the detective branch of police, sources said.
The concerned authorities deployed a large number of police with and without uniform on the Supreme Court premises on Thursday to avoid any untoward incident. But a panic about being arrested was prevailing among the apex court lawyers since the morning, concerned lawyers said.
Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president Khandker Mahbub Hossain met with the Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain several times in the day to stop the arrest of the 10 other
lawyers.
But later he expressed dissatisfaction and resentment over the arrest of the three lawyers despite the Chief Justice’s assurance to solve the problem created following the chaos and fracas between the two rival groups of lawyers inside a courtroom during Tuesday’s proceedings.
On the other hand, Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum (JAF) on Thursday declared two days of protest against the arrest of the three lawyers.
Earlier a police team led by Rezaul Karim, office-in-charge of Shahbagh Police Station, detained the BNP lawmaker Papiya and two others at 2:50pm in front of the Bangladesh Bar Council building, adjacent to the Supreme Court premises.
The arrestees were indicted in a case filed for assaulting police and preventing them from discharging their duties inside a courtroom on Tuesday.
In the morning a High Court felt embarrassed to hear the bail petition of 13 BNP-backed lawyers seeking anticipatory bail in the case filed against them.
The division bench of HC comprising Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Anwarul Haque heard the bail petition Thursday.
But, at the one stage of the hearing, Justice Nazrul Islam, who led the division bench, said one of them felt embarrassed to hear the petition.
However, neither the reason nor the name of the judge was disclosed.
Md Sulaiman Hossain, sub-inspector of the Shabagh police station, filed the case against 14 lawyers and about 40 unnamed persons on August 2 on charges of assaulting police and preventing them from performing their duties in the courtroom during Tuesday’s proceedings.
The case was filed following the unprecedented chaotic incident that took place inside a courtroom of a division bench led by Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury, when the bench observed that opposition leader Khaleda Zia’s recent comments about the Constitution are tantamount to sedition and questioned her patriotism.
The HC bench made the observation during deliberations of its order in a separate case filed against Islami Oikya Jote chairman Mufti Fazlul Haque Amini for his alleged derogatory remarks about the Constitution.
The accused lawyers are BNP-supporting lawmakers Syeda Asifa Ashrafi Papiya, Kamrul Islam Sajal, Shahiduzzaman, Mirza Al Mahmud, Sharif Uddin Ahmed, Abdullah Al Mahmud, Enamul Hossain Gaffar, MU Ahmed, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Khan, Touhidul Islam, Gholam Nabi.
Meanwhile, the pro-BNP lawyers led by SCBA president Khandker Mahbub Hossain moved a petition before the chamber judge for staying the HC order cancelling the enrolment certificates of the 13 lawyers and issued a rule against them.
But, the chamber bench Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, fixed August 7 for delivering its order on the petition.
Khandker Mahbub Hosssain said that the police arrested the lawyers at a time when senior lawyers were trying to solve the issue through discussions. Senior lawyers from the both sides are scheduled to meet on August 7 in a bid to resolve the recent problems, he added.
He said that if the government was not careful over the recent problems in the apex court, then the chaotic situation might worsen. The senior lawyers of the court must take the responsibility of all incidents, if they actually took place, he noted.
Meanwhile as part of their protest programme the Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum, a grouping of pro-BNP lawyers, will wear black badges on August 7 and they will also hold protest meetings on August 8 across the country.
-With The Independent input
