Food Minister Quamrul Islam has said his remarks about Chief Justice SK Sinha were made as a freedom fighter and not as a minister.
He made the statement while addressing a press conference at the secretariat on Tuesday morning.
The food minister recently doubted the intention of the chief justice regarding the appeal verdict of war criminal Mir Quasem Ali.
“I made the remarks on the chief justice as a freedom fighter and not as a minister,” Quamrul said.
Earlier in the day, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court issued a contempt rule against Quamrul and Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque in response to their remarks about the chief justice.
The court asked the two ministers to explain by March 14 why the contempt rule should not be brought against them.
“I will be leaving for Malaysia today [Tuesday] on a government trip. I will be filing a time petition with the court,” Quamrul told reporters at a press briefing at the Secretariat.
Quamrul on March 5 said Jamaat leader Mir Quasem’s appeal should be reheard by a new Appellate Division bench excluding the CJ.
Justice Sinha had criticised the tribunal’s prosecution and investigators for failing to prove four charges against Quasem. He also flayed the government for not filing a case against Quasem for appointing lobbyists against the war crimes trial process.
Quamrul, the state minister for law when the tribunal was formed, said he thought Justice Sinha’s remarks brought his intentions into question.