A Dhaka court yesterday summarily dismissed a case against the former chief justice and recently resigned Law Commission chairman ABM Khairul Haque on charges of fraud and altering the judgement that annulled the 13th amendment concerning the caretaker government, hours after filing of it.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Dilruba Afroze Tithi passed the order finding no cogent grounds to take cognizance of the charges brought against Khairul.
Earlier in the day, Md Imrul Hasan, a lawyer of Dhaka Bar Association, filed the case against Khairul, a staffer of the court told The Daily Star.
In his complaint, Imrul said on August 13, Khairul resigned from the position of chairman of the Law Commission.
After retiring from the position of chief justice, he was appointed the Law Commission chairman for three years on July 23 last year by the government. His tenure was subsequently extended three times as the chairman of the commission.
Khairul was elevated to the Appellate Division in July 2009.
A week before his retirement, he gave the verdict declaring the nonpartisan election-time government “illegal”, ignoring strong pleas by eminent jurists such as Dr Kamal Hossain, Barrister Rafique-ul Huq, Barrister M Amir-ul Islam, former attorney general Mahmudul Islam, all of whom strongly argued for retaining the interim government system for the sake of country’s democracy.
His verdict gave Hasina the biggest political weapon to cling to power. The end of the caretaker system meant an end to the mechanism of checks and balances which ensured free and fair elections in 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2008, said the complainant.
