42 citizens condemn mayor Taposh’s remarks

42 citizens condemn mayor Taposh’s remarks

Forty-two citizens, including rights activists, academics, lawyers, and religious and ethnic minority leaders, protested in a joint statement on Saturday at Dhaka South City Corporation mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh’s remarks threatening to throw civil society members into the river Buriganga in sacks and bragging about unseating a chief justice.

‘We condemn and protest the mayor’s objectionable and arrogant speech. We would also like to draw the attention of the highest court in this regard,’ they said in the joint statement.

They also said that they were aggrieved, shocked, and distressed to see Taposh using such indecent, disrespectful language while holding a high political position such as Dhaka city mayor and being a professional lawyer.

The eminent citizens said that they came to know about Taposh’s remark at Bangabandhu Awami Ainjibi Parishad’s programme on May 21 by reading a report of a national daily, said a press release issued from the office of the Association for Land Reform and Development on Saturday.

The citizens expressed anger, sadness, and astonishment at Taposh’s remark.

‘We have no words to denounce such objectionable arrogance. The remark about removing a serving chief justice shows his arrogance, and it is undoubtedly an insult and disrespect to the apex court,’ they said in the statement.

They said that through his remarks, Taposh had given a message that the political organisation was desperate to control the judiciary like other organisations.

The signatories to the statement included former adviser to the caretaker government and human rights activist Sultana Kamal, former caretaker government adviser Rasheda K Chowdhury, former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder, distinguished professor at Illinois State University Ali Riaz, former Jahangirnagar University economics professor Anu Muhammad, renowned Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam, Transparency International Bangladesh executive director Iftekharuzzaman, senior lawyer Shahdeen Malik, Nijera Kori coordinator Khushi Kabir, Shusasoner Janno Nagorik secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar, ALRD executive director Shamsul Huda, Dhaka University law department professor Asif Nazrul, Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council general secretary Rana Dasgupta and Bangladesh Adivasi Forum’s president Sanjeeb Drong.

At a discussion at the Shahid Shafiur Rahman auditorium of the Supreme Court Bar Association on May 21, marking the sixth founding anniversary of Bangabandhu Awami Ainjibi Parishad, Taposh said, ‘Those civil society representatives who want to teach us will be thrown into the black water of the river Buriganga in sacks.’

Senior lawyer M Amirul Islam on Wednesday moved the Appellate Division seeking a suo motu ruling against Dhaka south city mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh for his recent remark on the removal of a serving chief justice from office.

Amirul Islam, a former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, brought the matter to the attention of the Appellate Division and submitted copies of Manab Zamin and New Age, which published Taposh’s remarks on Tuesday.

He called Taposh’s remark as ‘unfortunate’.

As Amirul Islam started reading out Taposh’s remarks in the jam-packed courtroom of the Appellate Division from Manab Zamin, the chief justice told him that the court was occupied with other matters.

The chief justice also told Amirul Islam that the Appellate Division would give a decision later after looking into the reports carefully.

Later, Amirul Islam told reporters at a briefing that Taposh’s remarks were ‘contemptuous’.

He said that the people of the country felt aggrieved at the mayor’s remarks.