The stand release of Abdul Mannan, Judge of District and Sessions Court in Pirojpur, was issued just four hours after he denied bail pleas of former Awami League MP AKM Awal and his wife Lyla Parveen on Tuesday. Mannan has been attached to the foreign ministry.
The ex-MP and his wife couple were sent to jail in three separate graft cases on charges of grabbing government land.
The incident triggered widespread criticism and reached the usual crescendo on social media. Although Law Minister Anisul Huq avoided the press yesterday, today he was forced to even think on his feet.
All the Bar members decided to boycott the courtroom due to his (Judge) behavior and a chaos was created at the court premises by the locals, he said.
“To control the agitation of the locals Law Ministry ordered to issue the stand release against the Judge,”Anisul added.
“Approval and denial of bail depends on the court but we have to take measures when court creates such conditions where controlling law and order becomes questionable,” he stated.
“To control the agitation the district AL president and his wife were granted bail. And I don’t believe that has violated the rule of law,” he added.
Meanwhile, the High Court on Wednesday issued a rule seeking explanation as to why the stand release of Pirojpur district Judge should not be declared illegal and asked the secretary to the Law Ministry to respond to the rule within a week.
On December 31, 2019, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Deputy Director Md Ali Akbar filed the cases against Awal. His wife Lyla was accused in one of the cases. They were on an eight-week bail.
According to statement of one of the cases, the former Pirojpur-1 MP took a plot of government land on lease by providing false information, before erecting a three-storey building there in his wife's name.
Later, the building was rented to Pirojpur Palli Bidyut Samity.
The ACC also mentioned in another case statement that the couple grabbed another piece of government land in Swarupkathi upazila of the district and built a mansion there.
They were also accused of grabbing a half-acre plot of government land and building an illegal wall around it in Pirojpur district.