No assembly on the court premises

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court yesterday asked lawyers to strictly follow the 2005 High Court directive that prohibited them from assembling or taking out processions on any court premises across the country.

As per the order, no assembly, gathering, procession, distribution of leaflets and use of microphone can take place on court premises, Attorney General AM Amin Uddin told reporters at his office on the SC premises.

Citing the HC directives issued in 2005, he said the violation would be deemed a contempt of court and the respondents tocontempt of court proceedings will refrain from all court activities until the matter is settled.

Earlier in the day, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order for strictly following the HC directives when SC lawyer Nahid Sultana Juthi appealed to the apex court to hear a contempt of court petition against seven pro-BNP lawyers.

The other judges are Justice Obaidul Hassan, Justice Borhanuddin and Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam.

The Appellate Division fixed October 19 for hearing the petition.

On Tuesday, SC lawyer Md Nazmul Huda filed the petition against seven pro-BNP lawyers for making "slanderous, derogatory and contemptuous" remarks about two apex court judges at a press conference on the Supreme Court Bar Association premises on August 27.

He submitted the petition through his lawyer Nahid Sultana, appealing to the apex court to launch contempt of court proceedings against the seven lawyers and to punish them for their comments about the SC judges.

The seven lawyers are Md Kayser Kamal, Abdul Jamil Mohammad Ali, Fahima Nasrin, Md Abdul Jabbar Bhuiyan, Md Ruhul Quddus Kazal, Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman Khan and Gazi Kamrul Islam Sajal.

According to the petition, the lawyers at the briefing demanded that the two SC judges be kept away from discharging judicial functions.

The pro-BNP lawyers have been placing their demands as the two SC judges reportedly said "they are oath-bound politicians" while addressing a discussion organised by the SC on August 15.