Ex-CJ Khairul Haque lands in jail

Online Desk  :  A Dhaka court on Thursday ordered former chief justice ABM Khairul Haque to be sent to jail following the completion of a seven-day remand over the manipulation of the Supreme Court verdict on the caretaker government system. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Saifuzzaman passed the order after the police produced Khairul before the court and sought his detention. Earlier on 30 July, Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sanaullah placed Khairul on a seven-day remand in the case. Supreme Court lawyer Md Mujahidul Islam filed the case at Shahbagh Police Station on 27 August last year under sections...

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Online Desk  :  A Dhaka court on Thursday ordered former chief justice ABM Khairul Haque to be sent to jail following the completion of a seven-day remand over the manipulation of the Supreme Court verdict on the caretaker government system. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Saifuzzaman passed the order after the police produced Khairul before the court and sought his detention. Earlier on 30 July, Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Sanaullah placed Khairul on a seven-day remand in the case.

Supreme Court lawyer Md Mujahidul Islam filed the case at Shahbagh Police Station on 27 August last year under sections 219 and 466 of the Penal Code. According to the case documents, Khairul altered the Supreme Court summary order annulling the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in the full verdict. He is accused of unlawfully publishing the full verdict on 16 September 2012, 16 months after his retirement, modifying the original summary judgement delivered on 10 May 2011, under the influence of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and in expectation of a favourable post-retirement appointment.

Through the verdict on the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, Khairul Haque, who also served as the chairman of the Law Commission, paved the way for authoritarianism.He was arrested on 24 July from his Dhanmondi residence by a team from the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. His arrest comes amid a cascade of legal complaints accusing him of judicial manipulation, sedition, corruption and even involvement in a murder tied to the 2024 mass uprising.

On the same day, he was sent to jail in connection with another case filed at Jatrabari Police Station over the killing of teenager Abdul Kaiyum Ahad during last year’s student movement against quota. Khairul served as Bangladesh’s 19th chief justice from 1 October 2010 to 17 May 2011. Following retirement, he was appointed chairman of the Law Commission in July 2013 and was reappointed multiple times until his resignation on 13 August 2024, just a week after the fall of the Hasina-led government