DIFE challenges stay order on Prof Yunus' conviction

The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) has filed a revision petition with the High Court challenging the Labour Appellate Tribunal's order that stayed conviction and sentence of Nobel Laureate Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus and three others in a labour law violation case.
It placed the petition on Sunday with a HC bench, led by Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder, which admitted the petition and scheduled the hearing today (Monday), said DIFE lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan.
He further said an appellate court cannot stay the conviction and sentence delivered by a trial court to any convict under the relevant rules of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The appellate court can stay the order of fine, he added.
Acting Chairman of the Labour Appellate Tribunal in Dhaka Md Abdul Awal on January 28 last admitted the appeal petition filed by Prof Yunus, also the chairman of Grameen Telecom, and three other top officials of the organisation and extended their bail till disposal of the appeal.
The court also suspended their conviction given by a labour court in Dhaka.
The Chairman of the Appellate Tribunal also called for all the documents of the verdict announced by the Third Labour Court in Dhaka and fixed March 03 next for further proceedings of the case.
Lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said the petition has been filed challenging the Labour Appellate Tribunal order that stayed till March 3 the labour court verdict that convicted and sentenced Prof Yunus and three others to six-month imprisonment and fined them Tk 30,000 in the case.
In the petition, an order has been sought from the HC so that Prof Yunus and three others cannot go abroad until their appeals are disposed of by the Labour Appellate Tribunal, he said.
The Third Labour Court in Dhaka on January 1 last sentenced Prof Yunus and three other top officials of the Grameen Telecom to six-month imprisonment in a case filed against them on charge of violating the labour law.
Meanwhile, Law Minister Anisul Huq has said the government has no plan to arrest or send to jail Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus unnecessarily, reports BSS.
"...I am telling you once again, the government does not have any plan to arrest (Dr Yunus). There are some pending cases against him. First of all, there are some cases filed by NBR and some cases filed under labour court. These cases will be heard, and the judges will come up with judgments based on the merits. It is surely the duty of the government to execute these judgments, and it will do so," he said.
The law minister said this while talking to journalists after inaugurating the 49th foundation training course for assistant judges and equivalent judicial officials at Judicial Administration Training Institute (JATI) in the city on Sunday.

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