Chuadanga court vandalised over appointment of new Nazir

Additional District and Sessions Judge-1's court in Chuadanga was vandalised this afternoon over a dispute between court employees and lawyers centering the appointment of a new "nazir" after removing the old one from the District Judge's Court.

Following the incident, an emergency meeting of the District Bar Association decided to boycott the court indefinitely and demanded the removal of Additional District and Sessions Judge-1 (acting District Judge) Bazlur Rahman and two other employees, reports our Kushtia correspondent.

Chuadanga District and Sessions Judge Reza Md Alamgir Hasan, before his retirement leave on March 15, issued a transfer order to remove the present Nazir Masuduzzaman and appointed Nurul Haque, a bench assistant of the same court, as the new Nazir, said Advocate Alamgir Hossain, president of the District Bar Association.

When the new Nazir -- Nurul -- went to take charge around 11:00am today, some court staffers did not let him and claimed that his appointment was illegal.

To resolve the issue, Nurul, along with some lawyers and employees of the court -- including Advocate Alamgir Hossain -- went to Judge Bazlur Rahman at around 12pm.

Judge Bazlur also expressed doubts over the transfer and new appointment orders and said he was unable to comply with it.

Hearing the judge's decision, followers of Nurul started protesting, which halted the court proceedings. At one stage, the judge's room was vandalised. Following the incident, a chase and counter-chase took place between both sides.

Police later went to the spot and brought the situation under control, Additional Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) Jahangir Alam told The Daily Star.

Nurul went to the judge's room with 10-15 lawyers, including Advocate Alamgir, and pressured him to comply with the order. When he refused, the lawyers got angry and vandalised his table, Nazir Masuduzzaman told this correspondent.

The outgoing District and Sessions Judge Reza Md Alamgir Hasan had spent a total of Tk 11.70 lakh during his tenure. When he demanded the money back, he (judge) got angry and threatened to transfer him, alleged Masuduzzaman.

"Some dishonest employees of the court are making false allegations against us (lawyers). When we approached the judge about the appointment of a new Nazir, the staff attacked us with sticks in a pre-planned manner. Four to five lawyers were injured at the time," claimed Advocate Alamgir.

After the incident, an emergency meeting of the District Bar Association decided to boycott the court indefinitely and demanded the removal of Judge Bazlur Rahman, Nazir Masuduzzaman, and Bench Assistant Zahurul Islam.