Although the two-day voting for electing the new leadership of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) ended peacefully, the vote counting remained halted a day following a clash among the lawyers.
The counting of ballots for the 2024-25 session of the SCBA election was halted on Friday morning due to violent disruptions and turmoil among the lawyers vying for positions. The vote counting started again on Saturday afternoon.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that SCBA elections were marred by violence.
The SCBA election in 2023 also took place amid unprecedented happenings, including scuffles, police assaults and stampedes. Many people, including lawyers and journalists, were injured by violence during the two-day election last year.
In 2022, the Supreme Court Bar Association, one of the largest professional bodies in the country, took an unusually long time to even declare the results of the election due to unprecedented chaos by the lawyers.
Like the previous years, this year is no exception as the chaotic trend and unlawful conduct have continued in the SCBA polls, making the nation worry about the future of the legal profession. All the gains that legal practitioners achieved over the years are being destroyed due to unprecedented happenings.
Meanwhile, the detective branch (DB) of police on Saturday arrested six lawyers for their alleged involvement with the chaos and violence during the vote counting.
The arrestees are former SCBA secretary Ruhul Quddus Kazal, who is a secretary candidate from the pro-BNP panel, Advocate Advocate Kazi Bashir Ahmed, Advocate Tushar, Advocate Tariqul Islam, Advocate Sumo, and Advocate Usman.
The arrestees are listed as accused of the case filed with the Shahbagh Police Station regarding the attack and violence.
Assistant Attorney General Saifur Rahman Siddiqui Saif, a co-opted member of the election sub-committee, filed the case, citing charges of attempted murder.
Nahid Sultana Juthi, an independent candidate for the secretary post and wife of Jubo League chief Sheikh Fazle Shams Parish, is listed as the key suspect among the 20 people named in the case.
Harun Or Rashid, additional commissioner (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police; confirmed the matter at a press conference in the capital.
He said, “No one is above the law. After the case was filed with Shahbagh Police Station, DB police started a shadow investigation. Later, five lawyers were arrested from different places, including Banani in the capital.”
He also said that it does not matter who belongs to which party those involved in the fight. All those who have committed crimes, against whom cases have been filed, will be brought under the law.
“We are looking for all the responsible ones behind the incident in the Supreme Court. Everyone will be brought under the law,” he added.
He further said that they are trying to find out who instigated them. Those who inspired them to fight will also be brought under the investigation.
Earlier, the two-day voting process ended at 5:00 pm on Thursday with the expectation that results would be announced later that evening. A total of 5,319 lawyers, out of 7,883, cast their votes festively and peacefully to elect 14 executive posts of the prime bar of the country, including those of president and secretary.
However, disturbances throughout the night, including a scuffle that injured several lawyers, delayed the process. Later, the vote counting was halted on Friday morning.
SCBA Chief Election Commissioner Senior Advocate Abul Khair said that the outsiders attacked some lawyers who were present at the polling centre in the SCBA auditorium as the votes were scheduled to be counted there. A lawyer suffered injuries and other lawyers, including candidates and members of the election subcommittee, left the SCBA premises amid a tense situation.
It was known that after voting ended on Thursday, Nahid Sultana Juthi called for an immediate count of votes and the announcement of results overnight.
However, the Bangabandhu Awami Lawyers Parishad’s nominated panel, including secretary candidate Shah Monjurul Haque, called for the vote count to start on Friday afternoon.
The disagreement escalated into a physical altercation between the two groups. Assistant Attorney General Abu Saeed was assaulted at the time. The incident led to the suspension of both the vote count and the announcement of results.
