Law
week
Five university teachers remanded
Courts in Dhaka and Rajshahi placed on remand the five university teachers picked up from their campus homes on charges of breaching the emergency power rules. General Secretary of Dhaka University Teachers Association (Duta) Prof Anwar Hossain and DU Social Science Dean Prof Harun-or-Rashid each were remanded in custody for four days in a case filed by the police for making provocative and anti-state statements. In Rajshahi, former Rajshahi University (RU) vice-chancellor Prof Saidur Rahman, Convener of RU Progressive Teachers Society Prof Abdus Sobhan and management professor Moloy Kumar Bhowmik were put on a 10-day remand each. The three were shown arrested under section 16(2) while Anwar and Harun under section 3 (4) of the Emergency Power Rules (EPR), 2007. None of their names was in the first information report (FIR). According to the emergency rules, processions, rallies and protests are banned during the state of emergency to maintain security of the state or people or discipline. However, any procession or rally can be organised for religious, social, state or government purposes. Violators will be sentenced to a maximum of five years' and a minimum of two years' rigorous imprisonment, plus fine. -The Daily Star, August 26.
EC to start dialogue with political parties
The Election Commission will start dialogue with political parties from September 12 on its proposed electoral reform proposals. Announcing the dialogue plan that will continue till November 29, Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda hoped the ban on indoor politics would be relaxed by the time to create a pre-dialogue environment. The CEC told a press conference that they would primarily sit with the representatives of 15 political parties selected on the basis of three criteria. The criteria are: Parties that secured at least one parliamentary seat in any general election since Bangladesh's independence, the parties that got at least 2 percent of cast votes in any general election or the parties that have offices in 32 district and upazila headquarters and have minimum 1,000 members. Agenda of the dialogue will focus on the Representation People's Order, 1972, the Political Party Registration Rules, 2001 and the Election Codes of Conduct, 1996. Besides, discussions may be held on a proposal on transparent ballot boxes. The EC Secretary will dispatch letters addressed to general secretaries of respective parties through special messengers from tomorrow. -Unb, Dhaka, August 28.
Huda gets 7 years, Sigma 3 yrs for graft
In the first ever bribery case filed by the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC), a court sentenced former communications minister Nazmul Huda to seven years rigorous imprisonment, while his wife Sigma Huda was sentenced to three years simple imprisonment. Another special court, convened on the same premises and designed to adjudicate graft cases, yesterday sentenced in absentia former jute minister Shajahan Siraj's wife Rabeya Haider to 32 years simple imprisonment in connection with four tax evasion cases. But, Rabeya will have to spend only five years in jail as the court ordered her jail terms to be served concurrently. The former minister and his wife are currently absconding. Nazmul Huda was also fined Tk 2.50 crore, in default of which he will have to serve one more year of jail term. The court also ordered the amount of the bribe of Tk 2.40 crore, taken by Nazmul Huda assisted by his wife, to be confiscated by the state. A special court of Amar Kumar Roy pronounced the verdict on Nazmul Huda under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 for abuse of power and corruption, while Sigma Huda was sentenced under Bangladesh Penal Code for being the accomplice in the crime. -The Daily Star, August 28.
Hasina's bail stayed
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) stayed the High Court (HC) orders granting Sheikh Hasina bail in two extortion cases until disposal of her writ petitions with the HC. In response to the government appeals seeking reversal of the HC orders, a full bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice M Ruhul Amin made the ruling that means no immediate prospect for her release from prison. It also stayed another HC order that imposed a freeze on operation of the Anti-Corruption Commission's (ACC) notice for Awami League (AL) President Hasina to declare her wealth. It asked her to submit in a week a wealth statement to the anti-graft body. Following the orders, the trial court can now begin proceedings of the extortion cases under the emergency power rules in which a defendant has no right to bail. Earlier, the Appellate Division had put off the HC orders.Legal experts said the AL president might have to stay behind bars for an indefinite period as it would take a long time for the entire legal proceedings to be completed. They said an HC division bench would look afresh into the writ petitions filed by Hasina. Hasina was arrested by the joint forces on July 16, and later that day a magistrate's court sent her to a sub-jail in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban complex. -The Daily Star, August 28.
New policy to ensure balanced migration
The government is thinking about formulating a mechanism that would ensure equal number of workers from all districts of the country migrating abroad. The government would give special focus on the poverty-stricken north and north-western regions from which fewer labourers migrate. The government is also consulting various stakeholders of labour migration to formulate a strategy to reduce migration costs. High migration costs were identified as a major obstacle to migration of labourers, especially the unskilled. These issues were elaborately discussed at an inter-ministerial meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday. Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury and officials of the ministries of foreign affairs, expatriates' welfare and overseas employment, home affairs, information and the Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) were present at the meeting. Talking to journalists after the meeting, Iftekhar said the government is to ask Malaysia to review the recruitment process through outsourcing companies, which often leads to exploitation of many Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia. "Migration has a direct link with development. But it has been observed that labour migration occurs from only a few concentrated areas like Comilla, Noakhali, Chittagong, Dhaka and Sylhet," said an official of the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment ministry. -The Daily Star, August 28.
HC grants petitions for winding up Dinkal Ltd
Staying proceedings of the case against BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and others, the High Court granted two petitions for winding up Dinkal Publications Limited. "The stay will continue until further order," says the court order stalling the trial proceedings of the Dinkal case pending with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, Dhaka. Delivering the judgment following two separate petitions filed by two directors for the company that publishes the Bangla daily, Dinkal, Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed also ordered the authorities to appoint in 60 days an official liquidator for the company. The High Court asked all the directors of the company to donate altogether Tk 5 lakh to the Chief Adviser's Relief and Welfare Fund for the flood victims and Tk 1 lakh to the Supreme Court Employees' Welfare Trust. On June 12, Khaleda Zia, her elder son Tarique Rahman and 12 other BNP leaders, who are all directors of the Dinkal Publications Limited, were sued for not submitting service return since its formation in 1999. Abdul Mannan, deputy registrar of the Joint Stock Companies, filed the case under section 36(5) of the Companies Act 1994 with the CMM Court. -Unb, Dhaka, August 29.
Corresponding with the Law Desk
Please send your mails, queries, and opinions to: Law Desk, The Daily Star 19 Karwan Bazar, Dhaka-1215; telephone 8124944,8124955,fax 8125155; email: dslawdesk@yahoo.co.uk,lawdesk@thedailystar.net
