Branding Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik an extremely wrongheaded person, BNP on Wednesday said the incident of sending a letter by a justice to the President seeking Chief Justice’s impeachment is unprecedented and bad example in the judiciary.
“A few days back, a strong storm lashed the judiciary. Appellate division Justice Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik sent a letter to the President seeking the impeachment of the Chief Justice bringing some allegations against him. The country’s people got stunned with the incident,” said BNP spokesman Asaduzzaman Ripon.
Speaking at a press briefing at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office, he further said, “The Chief Justice is an institution, not mere a person… such allegation was never brought against any Chief Justice in the country’s history. It’s a very bad instance. We think the Justice has badly hit the judiciary. It’s totally unexpected.”
On Thursday, Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik reportedly wrote a letter to President Abdul Hamid seeking Chief Justice SK Sinha’s impeachment bringing allegations of “gross misconduct” and “violating constitutional oath” against him.
The Justice in his letter alleged that the Chief Justice “out of his personal grudge” has removed him (Manik) from the apex court bench that deals with cases and he has not given him jurisdiction to sit in the bench from September 9.
Mentioning that the power of removing judges has been now given parliament through the 16th amendment to the constitution, Ripon said despite knowing it, Shamsuddin Choudhury sent his letter to the President instead of parliament. “It’s exposed that his main intention was to malign the Chief Justice and tarnish his image.”
Ripon said though the government, Bangabhaban and the Law Ministry denied receiving any such a letter, different media published its content as the justice himself leaked the letter. “We think the government and the Law Ministry should look into the matter seriously.
He feared that the Justice’s letter can give a negative impression among justice seekers about the Chief Justice.
Ripon claimed that BNP during its rule did not confirm Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik’s service in the Apex Court as they understood that he was an extremely wrongheaded person.
