The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

The hearing on defence-discharge arguments in the barge-mounted power plant case was deferred to April 24, as detained ex-premier Shaikh Hasina could not be produced before the special court yesterday due to her illness.

As the court of Judge M Firoz Alam resumed at 10.45am, the Chief Special Public Prosecutor, quoting a Square Hospital report, told the court that Hasina is unfit to attend it.

"So, the court may fix another short date for hearing on the inconclusive defence-discharge arguments," the prosecutor said.

Meanwhile, Barrister Shafique Ahmed, the top counsel for Awami League president Hasina, made an allegation before the court that the executive branch along with other Govt agencies in many ways interfere in the natural judicial process.

"The way they conduct the courts, we have reasons to believe that the judiciary, which was freed from the executive control in November 2007, is not functioning independently," Barrister Shafique said citing recent instances.

Shafique, also former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, submitted that the Govt agencies called Hasina's lawyers one after another to an unknown place and threatened them so that they do not go for long arguments at the trial court and refrain from making political statements to the media. "I may also face such music any day," he apprehended.

Referring to the incident of former power and energy secretary Dr Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, a co-accused in the case, Shafique said, "Although the highest court granted him bail in two cases, a concerned court harassed him while furnishing bail bonds. "We don't know under whose behest the concerned court behaved in such a manner with Dr Towfiq, a liberation war hero."

He went on: "The police made a false statement before the media during his re-arrest at Panthapath on Friday on charges of breaking the Emergency Power Rules."

Shafique, quoting his (Towfiq) family sources, said, as Dr Towfiq was released on bail from jail at 7:45 am on the day, police drove him straight to Cantonment police station. Later, Tejgaon police station was ordered to file a general diary (GD) against him for violating the EPR, he added.

"Let the people as well as the world know how we are governed in the name of democracy and establishment of the rule of law and human rights," he said.

Shafique further submitted that as the executive kept on interfering in the judiciary, the question of getting even-handed justice has become a far cry for the accused facing trial.

After giving a patience hearing, the court refrained from making any observation on the raised issues and held back the arraignment hearings till April 24.