'Your'e a fascist collaborator': Pro-BNP lawyers hit out at judge after client is denied bail

A group of BNP-aligned lawyers have verbally abused a judge, labelling him an “Awami League collaborator” after their client's bail plea in an attempted murder case was rejected.

The incident occurred on Saturday at the Dhaka Judicial Magistrate's Court.

Hanif Member, implicated in the case filed with the Keraniganj Model Police Station, surrendered to the court on May 12 and petitioned for bail. The judge denied him bail and ordered that he be sent to jail.

On Thursday, his legal counsel filed another bail petition and the hearing was held on Saturday.

The ruling sparked an outburst from the lawyers as they shouted political slurs, calling the judge “a fascist collaborator” before throwing away the court’s cause list, according to Abdullah Al Mamun, bench assistant at the court.

Describing the incident, Mamun said: “The judge issued the order denying bail. Then the lawyers requested him to reconsider the decision. Sir said: 'I have issued the order already. If you want another hearing, you can submit a special application to the chief judicial magistrate. If needed, I’ll rehear hear the case again.'”

“Instead of doing that, the lawyers insisted that the case be heard again. Sir reiterated that the bail had been denied in an open court. They misbehaved and threatened to harm him.”

A video of the incident went viral on social media. It showed lawyer Khorshed Alam pointing to a document and saying, “The date, time and place of the incident are the same, but two separate cases have been filed [by two different plaintiffs] -- how's that possible". He then stormed out of the courtroom.

Another lawyer, Abdul Khalek Milon, said: “Listen, today we can speak at the court. If Sheikh Hasina hadn’t stepped down on the 5th of August, we could have been killed or disappeared. We were involved in the politics of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court. An 80-year-old has surrendered here.”

Another lawyer said, “We left after the hearing and he [the judge] asked the GRO [general registration officer at the court], ‘are you scared?’. Have we done anything to be scared of?"

Milon said, “Listen sir, it may sound bad, but you’re still on that chair because of us. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here. We suffered for the last 17 years.”

“Look at the CCTV footage from the 4th [of August]. We didn’t ask for anything illegal. After Aug 5, I never asked for a favour from any court. After Aug 5, many people asked me to do so but I never did.”

Then, another lawyer chimed in, saying: “Let us file another bail petition and you hear it tomorrow.”

The judge responded by asking the lawyers to go to the “CJM with a special put-up”.

A lawyer then requested the judge to fix a hearing for the following day. “We’ll bring the plaintiff to the hearing tomorrow,” he said.

At one point, some lawyers were heard shouting “go, go”. Another lawyer then sternly told the others to be quiet. Looking at the judge, a few of them accused him of being "an Awami League collaborator". One lawyer even cursed at him.

When asked about the incident, lawyer Milon explained: “On Thursday, we submitted a bail petition for Hanif. The hearing was held on Saturday, and the court denied bail. We left the courtroom. But later, we heard that the judge scolded the general recording officer, asking him, ‘Were you afraid to deny bail?’ The GRO, however, had been on our side.”

Milon added, “We told the court that if the bail was rejected, we could file a recall petition. But the judge refused to accept it and instead scolded the GRO.”

On May 6, Fazlul Haque filed a case naming 10 people, including Hanif Member, along with 70–80 unidentified people, on a charge of attempt to murder.

According to the case documents, Haque had built a house on 13 decimals of land in Keraniganj's Arshinagar. The accused allegedly planned to grab the land. Haque claimed they verbally abused him and threatened to kill him if he did not vacate the property.

The documents also allege that on May 5, the suspects vandalised Haque’s house and tied up the caretaker in an attempt to kill him. When Haque’s wife tried to intervene, the suspects allegedly sexually assaulted her.

Haque said that the attackers destroyed parts of his home and stole belongings worth Tk 1 to 1.1 million. They also demanded Tk 10 million in extortion.

Haque further claimed, “Hanif Member has ties to Awami League politics. He stayed on as a member of Ward No. 1 in Shakta Union without an election for 15 years. Along with his associates, he’s taken over multiple plots of land.”

“Now he’s worth billions. He grabbed land belonging to many people, including property owned by mosques. He forged documents and sold 24 decimals of land that belonged to a mentally challenged person. He took money from thousands of people, promising them Titas Gas connections.”

“When I went for Hajj, he framed me in a false rape case and filed two more cases against me.”

“Even from jail, Hanif continues to threaten me, demanding that I withdraw the case. He’s more powerful than a government minister. Former Keraniganj MP Qamrul [Islam] didn’t have even a fraction of the influence Hanif wields.”