One year not enough to dispatch verdict from one court to another

According to regular legal process, barrister Nazmul Huda should have been in jail now. Instead, he is actively doing politics as the copy of a High Court order, delivered on 8 November 2018, has not yet reached the trial court.

ACC (Anti-Corruption Commission) lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan confirmed this to Prothom Alo on Monday.

There were three cases filed against Nazmul Huda, all of them filed during the caretaker government regime.

One of the cases was about extortion to amass assets outside of known sources of income. Another was about receiving Tk 25,000 every month for two years illegally. The third case involved bribes of Tk 24 million.

The trial court sentenced Nazmul Huda to 12 years in prison in the extortion case. On 10 September 2014, however, the High Court cleared him of the charges following his appeal.

The second case is under trial, but the proceedings are held up by a court order. 

In the third one, Nazmul Huda was sentenced to seven years and his wife barrister Sigma Huda to three years in jail while both of them were fined too.

The Huda couple challenged the trial court verdict and filed a petition to the High Court. The HC accepted the petition on 20 March 2011 and after carrying out the lawsuit, acquitted Nazmul Huda and Sigma Huda of the charges.

Following this, the state and ACC filed a leave to appeal against the HC order. The appellate division, on completion of the hearing on 1 December 2014, scrapped the acquittal and asked the High Court to hold the hearing afresh.

The High Court, following the Appellate Division order, held the hearing again and handed over the verdict on 8 November. This time, the HC bench of Bhabani Prasad Sinha and Mustafa Zaman Islam commuted the jail term of Nazmul Huda to four years from seven years and for Sigma Huda, it said, the sentence would be considered served as she served time in the jail earlier.

The court also directed Nazmul Huda to surrender before the trial court within 45 days after receiving the copy of the verdict.

When contacted over phone, Nazmul Huda said, “I ought to be present at the court within 45 days after the verdict been delivered at the trial court. The verdict has not yet reached there. There is no other case so far against me that requires bail.”

In his long political career in BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party), Nazmul Huda came into focus frequently, talking against the BNP's arch rival Awami League. In the same manner, he remained in the spotlight, talking against the BNP after leaving it.

Huda came into focus again on 27 September, filing a case against the former chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha over power abuse and bribery.

A professional lawyer, Nazmul Huda, stepped into politics in 1977 through Ziaur Rahman’s Jatiyatabadi Ganatantrik Dal (Jagodal).

As the BNP was formed after Jagodal, he was a founding member. Later, he became the vice-chairman of the party. He was elected as a member of the parliament four times.

He was minister for food, for information and for communications at different times.

His wife Sigma Huda is a reputed human rights leader. Both of them were criticised as Sigma's organisation Jatiya Manabadhikar Bastabayan Sangstha was sanctioned railway land lease for setting up its office while Nazmul Huda was the communications minister.

Since 2010, Nazmul Huda’s relationship with BNP was strained and finally he was expelled from the party. Despite the expulsion, Nazmul Huda tried to remain in the political field with BNP’s identity.

In June, 2012 Huda resigned from BNP and within two months announced his launch of a new political party, BNF (Bangladesh Nationalist Front).  After a few months, another leader from BNF Abul Kalam Azad expelled him from the party.

In May, 2014, Huda floated BNA (Bangladesh Nationalist Alliance). This short-lived party, in November 2014, within six months gave way to the formation of yet another one, BMP (Bangladesh Manabadhikar Party).

BMP, later, was cancelled too. In November 2015, Nazmul Huda formed Trinamool BNP of which he is now president. The High Court, on Sunday, ordered the EC to grant this party registration.

 A verdict copy should not take one year to reach the trial court. Nowadays, it takes even six months or more for a full verdict. This should be changed. For years, there has been no  attempt to change this, Supreme Court lawyer Shahdeen Malik told Prothom Alo on Monday.