Govt acting within legal scopes

Law Minister Anisul Huq yesterday said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was enjoying more benefits in jail than those mentioned in the Jail Code.

“The provisions of the Jail Code are applicable to any person when he is convicted by a court,” he said.

The minister was talking to reporters after attending the inauguration of 37th foundation training course for assistant judges at the Judicial Administration Training Institute in the capital.

Asked whether there was any legal bar to providing treatment to Khaleda at United Hospital, Anisul said, “Many discussions have taken place on this issue. I think we are acting within the legal procedures. The government has no capability to do anything by flouting the Jail Code.”

The BNP chief landed in jail on February 8 after the Special Judge's Court-5 of Dhaka had awarded five-year jail term to her in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

About the appointment of new judges to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, the minister said new judges would be appointed soon.

Anisul said he didn't feel that there was a shortage of judges in the apex court although the number of judges at the Appellate Division came down to four from 11 in 2009 after the retirement, death and resignation of some judges.

Once, there were seven judges at the Appellate Division; five judges had run the court for several years and the four sitting judges have been running the apex court for a long time, he told journalists.

The minister, however, admitted that the number of cases pending before the apex court has gone up.

Speaking at the programme, Anisul called upon the assistant judges to carry out their duties with honesty, sincerity and competence to ensure justice for the justice seekers.

He said the judges have to use their academic and theoretical knowledge at their workplaces smoothly.

Justice Khondker Musa Khaled, director general of Judicial Administration Training Institute, and Law Secretary ASSM Zahirul Haque Dulal, among others, spoke at the programme.