Ministers fined Tk 50,000 each

Liberation war affairs minister AKM Mozammel Huq and food minister Qamrul Islam on Sunday were fined Tk 50,000 each on contempt of court charges when they appeared before the Supreme Court in the morning.

They will have to be in jail for seven days should they fail to pay the fine, said the verdict.

The ministers were asked to appear before the Supreme Court today (Sunday) for their remarks about the chief justice and the Supreme Court.

Earlier on Sunday last, the ministers appeared before the Appellate Division of the apex court for a hearing.

On 8 March, the Supreme Court summoned the two ministers to appear before it for their remarks.

On 5 March, food minister Qamrul Islam, addressing a roundtable, expressed his dissatisfaction at the chief justice’s remarks, saying, “We can assume what the verdict on this case (of Mir Quasem Ali) would be through the remarks the chief justice made openly in the court.”

At the same programme, the liberation war affairs minister, AKM Mozammel Haque, too, said, “I will request the chief justice…withdraw your statement. Or else, I will ask him to consider how much scope there is for him to stay in the post.”

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