Ex-dist judge fined for contempt of court

The High Court (HC) on Wednesday fined Feni's former District Judge Md Firoz Alam Tk 5,000 for not providing protocol to an HC judge during his visit to the district in 2003, reports UNB.

The former lower court judge will have to face a seven-day jail if he fails to pay the penalty within 15 days.

A bench of Justice Obaidul Hassan and Justice SM Kuddus Zaman passed the order after disposing of a rule issued earlier over the matter.

The court also issued a four-point directive over the protocol during the visit of Supreme Court (SC) judges across the country and ordered the SC registrar general and law secretary to publish those through a circular.

Advocate Faisal H Khan and Advocate Moin Uddin Tipu stood for Firoz Alam while Deputy Attorney General Rafi Ahmed represented the state.

On October 20, 2003, a letter was issued to the Feni Judge's Court informing it about the visit of Justice Syed Amirul Islam of the High Court.

As per the rules, the district judge was supposed to provide protocol to the HC judge.

On October 22, the HC judge reached Feni Railway Station but there was no one there to receive him. He made a phone call to the Judge's Court where a representative of the court received the phone and told him to wait as the district judge was busy with the court proceedings.

The HC judge had to wait for hours and later the district judge arranged the protocol in the afternoon.

After returning to Dhaka on October 29, Syed Amirul Islam issued a suo moto rule against three people, including District Judge Md Firoz, on contempt of court charge.