Bangladesh's top judge 'forced to go on leave' over remarks on the 16th amendment

The rift between the Bangladesh government in Dhaka and country’s apex court is out in the open again.

In an unusual development, Bangladesh’s Chief Justice Surender Kumar Sinha has gone on a month-long leave on health grounds. The Supreme Court Bar Association alleges that Chief Justice Sinha has been forced to take leave by the Sheikh Hasina regime. The Bangladeshi Prime Minister, meanwhile, is still not back in Dhaka after over two weeks of travel, starting with the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

With elections due in 2018, Bangladesh, which is reeling under multiple crises, including the latest inflow of over half a million refugees from neighbouring Myanmar, is poised for an eventful year leading to the polls.

For now, Bangladeshi President Md Abdul Hamid has appointed Md Abdul Wahhab Miah as the acting chief justice. Law and parliamentary affairs minister of Bangladesh Anisul Huq had earlier announced that Sinha’s decision to go on leave.

The development comes in the background of the tussle between Hasina’s government and judiciary over the latter’s view on 16th amendment. Unhappy over the court’s order scrapping it, there have been allegations that the government is trying to arm twist the apex judiciary.

The Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), meanwhile, welcomed Sinha’s decision which threw 16th Amendment out, as a “ray of hope for Bangladesh’s besieged democracy, as a statement put it.

Sinha has been out of action most of September as well, because of two-week long trip, first to Canada and then Japan. The regular court was anyway shut for most of September and convened on Tuesday after a month-long break.

Supreme Court Bar Association president Zainul Abedin, who also happens to be a vice president of the BNP, launched an attack on the government over Sinha’s absence.

“The SCBA thinks that a huge pressure was mounted on the chief justice so that he goes on leave for a month,” Abedin reportedly said. “You [newsmen] know, nation knows, and the people around the world know that after a verdict, a certain political party and the government were putting pressure exploiting various means,” the senior lawyer said while adding, “We think that the chief justice was sent on leave as a part of that pressure. He did not go on leave [willingly]. He was forced to do so.”