High Court extends time for explaining Pirojpur judge’s stand release

The government got more time for responding to the rule issued by the High Court over stand release of Pirojpur judge Abdul Mannan.

The High Court today granted time until the first week of April to the law ministry after hearing a time petition filed by Deputy Attorney General Amit Dasgupta.

On March 4, the High Court issued a rule asking the law and justice division secretary of the law ministry to explain why the decision to stand release Abdul Mannan should not be declared illegal.

However, Judge Abdul Mannan, who was attached to the law ministry after stand release, has been transferred to Kurigram as the district and session judge.

The release order came hours after he had passed an order to send former Awami League lawmaker AKMA Awal and his wife Laila Parvin to jail in corruption cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).

The bench of Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir had come up with the suo moto rule seeking the law ministry's explanation by March 11 after newspapers published reports on the law ministry decision.

The court said it did not have any jurisdiction regarding the matter, only the Chief Justice can decide on it.

The ACC filed three cases with the commission's integrated district office in Barishal on December 30 last year over leasing khas land using fake documents.