It would be better not to drag the judiciary into politics, Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha said yesterday.
While hearing an explanation submitted by BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on his own recent comment on the judiciary, the chief justice said: “You are politicians. It is better not to comment on the judiciary. We become shocked hearing your comments.”
“Do politics.. We have no objection. But it is better not to drag judiciary into politics,” he added.
On February 7, Mirza Fakhrul told a meeting of the BNP’s Sylhet unit that the government was trying to control the judiciary, adding that the country neither had any democracy nor an independent judiciary.
On February 18, the Supreme Court asked the BNP leader to submit an explanation for his comments, while on February 22, the apex court refused to accept an affidavit containing the explanation from Fakhrul as it was not signed by the politician.
Yesterday, the explanation submitted by Fakhrul did not mention the reasons for making the comments.
The five-member Appellate Division bench, headed by the chief justice, once again refused to accept it and ordered him to submit a fresh explanation specifying the reasons by next Monday.
The court passed the order while dealing with three bail petitions filed by Fakhrul in three cases.
Yesterday, at the beginning of the hearing, Fakhrul’s lawyer Zainul Abedin submitted the affidavit signed by the BNP leader.
Zainul told the court that Fakhrul made the comment quoting a speech by Supreme Court’s retired justice MA Matin’s. The BNP leader has no intention of undermining the judiciary, Zainul added.
The lawyer also submitted a video clip of Fakhrul’s speech.
Additional Attorney General Murad Reja said, “He [Fakhrul] has submitted a record of electronic media. But his [comment] has come in two newspapers differently. There is no explanation about that.”
The court then fixed the new date to submit fresh explanations.
