Verdict on MP Nizam Hazari's post deferred

The bench of Justice Md Emdadul Huq and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir set the new date yesterday when the judges were supposed to deliver the judgement as per a previous order passed on August 3. According to the lawmaker's counsels, the court sought the case dockets which had upheld his jail sentence in an arms case, to ascertain how many years he served in jail. Feni Jubo League leader Sakhawat Hossain Bhuiyan filed the writ petition after a Bangla daily reported that the controversial lawmaker allegedly got released from jail illegally. A relative of Joynal Hazari, Nizam was supposed to serve jail terms till September 13, 2010, and he would not be qualified to contest in the parliamentary elections the next five years as per the constitution. But he became a lawmaker participating in the January 5 election in 2014. The petition mentioned that on August 16, 2000, a Chittagong court sentenced Nizam to 10 years in jail in an arms case. He, however, was released after serving only five years in prison. Although he appealed against the verdict with the High Court and the Appellate Division, the appeals were dismissed, said the plea. Even his review petition was rejected. Nizam was first sent to jail on March 22, 1992 in an arms case and was released on July 28 that year, according to the police. Nizam was elected the mayor of Feni in 2011. On January 5, 2014, he took part in the national election from the Awami League, resigning from his post as the mayor. On June 8, 2014, a High Court in a rule asked the government, the Election Commission and Hazari to explain in four weeks why the constituency should not be declared vacant. During the hearing, two benches felt embarrassed to hear the ruling. Finally, the bench of Justice Md Emdadul Huq and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir started the hearing on January 19 this year.