ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION
SC body for dismissal of 4 trial court judges
MUHAMMAD YEASIN
The Supreme Court has recommended the law ministry to dismiss four trial court judges from their services for their involvement in corruption, misconduct and irregularities. Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, in a full-court meeting on Wednesday, made the recommendation to the law ministry. All the judges of the High Court division usually sit in at a full-court meeting. In his recommendation, the chief justice said that actions should be taken against the four judges as the allegations of corruption brought against them have been proven in the investigation process, said sources at the Supreme Court. The apex court authorities have already sent their recommendation to the law ministry yesterday afternoon. Now, it is up to the law ministry to take action against the judges, sources said. The four judges have been identified as former Comilla women and children repression tribunal judge SM Aminul Islam (district judge), former Thakurgaon district judge Ruhul Amin Khandaker, former Jamalpur additional district judge Md Sirajul Islam and former Khulna additional district judge Moinul Haque. The judges are now attached to the law ministry.
The attachment decision came as per a previous recommendation made by the apex court after departmental cases were filed against the four judges on charges of corruption, misconduct and irregularities. According to sources, judge SM Aminul Islam was involved in a massive corruption as he issued bail in at least 20 non-bailable cases when he was a judge in Dhaka. Sources also said that judge Ruhul Amin Khandaker was involved in massive corruption including taking bribe in giving job in lower level when he was the district judge of Thakurgaon.
Sources also said that judge Sirajul Islam was involved in corruption and irregularities, including illegal accusion of a piece of land when he was the Jamalpur district judge.
Additional district judge Moinul Haque was also involved in corruption during his service tenure when he was an additional district judge of Khulna. A total of 68 lawyers filed complaints against him for issuing verdict after taking bribe. Haque kept 140 cases waiting for delivering verdict after completion of hearing in those cases. The chief justice took his decision after consultations with all the High Court division judges, who were present at the full-court meeting.
The Supreme Court had earlier recommended the law ministry to file departmental cases against the four judges and appoint investigation officer to investigate the allegations. After completion of probe, investigation officers found the allegations to be true.
Later, the apex court issued notices on the judges to explain their position over the matter. Later, the judges gave their explanation to the court. However, judges at the full-court meeting were not satisfied with their explanations.
Hence, the full-court meeting took the decision to dismiss the judges from their services, according to the apex court sources. The ministry had filed separate departmental cases against them as per the apex court recommendations. The full-court meeting, however, exempted two other judgesSyed Humayun Azad and Md Kamal Khan-from corruption charges as the allegations brought against them were not proven during the investigation process.
