A group of lawyers threw eggs at Justice Md Ashraful Kamal in the courtroom, protesting his critical comments about BNP founder and former President Ziaur Rahman in the 2016 Sixteenth Amendment case verdict.
The incident occurred on Wednesday at the High Court bench of Justice Md Ashraful Kamal and Justice Kazi Waliul Islam.
Witnesses said that the courtroom was in session afternoon when a group of lawyers entered.
They confronted Justice Kamal, saying: “As a judge, you made derogatory remarks about former President Ziaur Rahman. If you still hold such views, you have no right to preside.”
During the heated confrontation, one lawyer threw an egg at Justice Kamal. The egg hit the desk in front of his seat.
Meanwhile, some lawyers began creating a commotion.
Following this, both Justice Kamal and Justice Islam left the courtroom and retreated to their chambers.
In the 2016 verdict, Justice Kamal remarked about Ziaur Rahman’s actions, saying: "Major General Ziaur Rahman seized the presidency through coercion, violating his oath as a public servant. He failed to protect the elected president and the nation’s four leaders. Zia joined hands with the killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the four leaders, unlawfully and unconstitutionally usurping the presidency at gunpoint. Such actions can be described as nothing less than hijacking a public institution with the barrel of a gun.”
The verdict also compared Zia's actions to those of a bandit leader: "Bandits often operate in groups, with a leader orchestrating the robbery. Similarly, Zia, along with others, dissolved the elected parliament using unconstitutional means, usurping the people’s power through force, akin to a band of robbers."
Justice Kamal also criticized Zia for enacting the Indemnity Ordinance, which shielded the killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family, saying: "By legalizing the murders, Zia proved himself to be complicit in the killings. Despite being a freedom fighter, he rehabilitated anti-liberation forces like Razakars, Al-Badr, and Jamaat-e-Islami, granting them citizenship and political legitimacy. He even gave war criminals parliamentary and ministerial positions, betraying the blood of three million martyrs and the honour of two hundred thousand women."
The judgment further condemned Zia’s actions: "Zia not only supported the killers of the Father of the Nation and the four national leaders but also rewarded them with roles like ambassadors and parliamentarians. Worse, he blocked the trial of these killings by enacting the Indemnity Ordinance, showing that he was a direct accomplice."
