After the political change on August 5, many Awami League government ministers, advisers and many others were arrested and brought to the courts, but no well known pro-AL lawyers appeared till date to represent the arrested as most of them were hiding apprehending arrest.
In particular, many of the pro-Awami lawyer leaders are accused in murder cases. As a result, many of them are now in hiding and some unknown lawyers recently defended the AL leaders in courts.
Soon after August 5, the unruly behaviour of a section of lawyers took place in the court premises during the remand hearing of a number of leaders of the deposed Awami League. Former social welfare minister Dipu Moni and former sports and youth deputy minister Arif Khan Joy came under attacked on August 20 when they were taken to court.
In the beginning, only when the defendants were produced in the courtroom, the incidents of egg throwing, assaults and attacks also took place on the accused during the hearing.
A similar chaotic situation broke out on August 14 when Salman F Rahman, private industries and investment adviser to former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and former law minister Anisul Huq were taken to a Dhaka court for a remand hearing in a murder case. Lawyers and activists, allegedly loyal to the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, did not allow any lawyers to stand for the accused.
Recently, a lawyer Morshed Hossain Shaheen, who represented arrested Barrister Sayedul Haque Sumon, was thrashed while briefing the media after the court hearing.
Amid this situation, at present very few pro-Awami lawyers are coming to court. After party identity and their role in the last 15 years, many are not going to court in the post-August 5 scenario. According to pro-Awami lawyers, there is an atmosphere of fear and threat of arrest while handling the case of the defendant.
Supreme Court lawyer Kumar Debul Dey, who was known as pro-AL lawyer, told this correspondent that many of his friends were arrested and many were hiding apprehending arrest.
One lawyer said, "Even though the attacks on the defendants in the court premises have stopped after the popular uprising, the overall atmosphere of the court is still not satisfactory."
It must be ensured that whoever comes to the court premises - plaintiff, defendant or witness - is not harassed. Irrespective of the political ideology of lawyers, it is important to have unity among all.
High profile accused are being produced in the court premises by heightening security and adopting various strategies.
The authorities concerned were increasing security in the court premises and adopting various strategies in the past one and a half months to avoid any untoward situation in the court premises. Now, high profile accused have been seen being produced in the wee hours of the morning, court sources said.
Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Shishir Manir told this correspondent that as per the laws of the land, social context, social norms and morally I think that the incidents happening in court need to stop very soon for the greater interest of the judiciary.
In response to a query, he said the authorities concerned have already taken steps to ensure security and safety of the accused when they were produced before the court. Hope there will be no untoward incident taking place in the court premises during hearing, he added.
In response to another query, he said in order to stop these incidents, if necessary, issuing ordinances, issuing notifications, sending instructions from the Supreme Court to the law enforcement agencies, asking the President for instructions at various times so that such incidents do not happen in future.
Dhaka Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Omar Farooq Farooqui claims that the number of attacks has been greatly reduced and the situation has improved.
"No one has the courage to stand up for those who were fascists for 15 years. Now their lawyers are giving legal representation and hearing. And everyone is getting legal help. At the end of the hearing, they come down and give a briefing. Even inside the court, the court is listening to the lawyers and also to the accused," he added.
