Complaint to CJ over SCBA polls irregularities fruitless, pro-BNP lawyers allege

The Chief Justice did not take any measures to the allegations over irregularities in the one-sided Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) elections and police attacks during the voting on 15-16 March, BNP-backed blue penal candidates alleged.

Pro-BNP lawyers put forward the allegations at a press conference at the Supreme Court Bar Association auditorium on Sunday.
In a written speech, Blue-penal secretary candidate Barrister Md Ruhul Quddus Kajal said "The president and secretary candidates have met the Chief Justice, and the judges of the Appellate Division several times and requested them to redress for the injury of lawyers and journalists due to police violence without the approval of the Supreme Court administration."

"Still, it was not possible to hold a fair election. No visible action was taken over police brutality. Unfortunately, the ruling party has to use the police to declare their candidates as winners in the elections of an association of lawyers. It is a great shame," he added.

Barrister AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, a vice-president candidate of the pro-BNP blue panel, said "Outsiders, Awami League, Jubo League, and Chhatra League workers voted for the pro-Awami League white panel candidates in the SCBA polls, which was marred by unprecedented chaos, with scuffles, police assaults, and stampedes.

He said, "500 lawyers did not vote in the elections held on 15-16 March. Clerks, Jubo League, and Chhatra League activists voted. No lawyer could enter the booth to vote because of the police. The ones who went to vote were attacked by the police."

"Both of us president and secretary candidates were attacked by the police. Members of the current executive council of the association have also come under attack," he added.

Pro-BNP candidates demanded the resignation of the law minister and the attorney general over police attacks on lawyers and journalists during the SCBA election.

They also alleged that the law minister and attorney general directed the police attack.

"Although no election was legally held, the candidates of the ruling party were unilaterally declared illegally elected by organising the election drama. Recently, a similar kind of farce was conducted in the Dhaka Lawyers Association elections," he said.

"Some overzealous lawyers of the ruling Awami League and the hellish violence of the police around the election have humiliated us as lawyers. It is a disgrace not only to the legal community but to the entire nation," he added.

They also demanded fresh polls of the SCBA.

On 16 March, the Chief Justice along with Attorney General AM Amin Uddin sat with pro-BNP lawyers in his personal room in the court following a complaint by them over irregularities in SCBA elections.

After the meeting, Amin Uddin told reporters that the Chief Justice has nothing to do about the situation that has arisen around the SCBA election.

"The Chief Justice said senior members of the association have been asked to resolve the issue on their own as it is not a matter of court," he said.

SCBA polls not one-sided: AL-backed white panel

In a written statement at a press conference on Sunday, the pro-Awami League white panel claimed that the SCBA elections were not one-sided.

White panel candidate and current SCBA President Md Momtaz Uddin Fakir said the lawyers voted spontaneously in the election, and the BNP-supported lawyers did not even announce a boycott.

Members of the SCBA executive committee along with its secretary Abdun Noor Dulal were also present.

Momtaz Uddin blamed the BNP's anti-democratic, anti-voting, anti-election motives, and blue-penal candidates Mahbub Uddin Khokon and Ruhul Quddus for the undesirable situation in the election.

The pro-Awami League lawyers' group Bangabandhu Awami Ainjibi Parishad won all 14 posts of the association.