Dinajpur mayor Jahangir jailed, asked to surrender

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Thursday sentenced Dinajpur Municipality mayor Syed Jahangir Alam to one month in jail on chage of making derogatory remarks about one of its judges.

He was fined Tk 1 lakh and asked to surrender in a Dinajpur court within seven weeks, a five-member bench of the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Obaidul Hasan passed the order.

He will be arrested if he fails to surrender within the mentioned period, the Chief Justice added.

Earlier, mayor Jahangir offered an unconditional apology to the Appellate Division for derogatory comment against Justice M Enayetur Rahim.

The Appellate Division on August 17 summoned the mayor and asked him to appear before the court on August 24 for making derogatory remarks against a judge.

The court also asked the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to remove the video containing the mayor’s remarks from the internet.

Four lawyers of the Supreme Court filed a contempt of court petition over the mayor’s derogatory comments against Justice M Enayetur Rahim, a senior judge of the Appellate Division, on a YouTube channel centring the verdict against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. The lawyers are advocates Harun-or-Rashid, Mahfuzur Rahman Roman, Md Moniruzzaman Rana and Shafique Raihan Shaon.

The SC also issued a rule asking the government to explain why mayor Jahangir should not be punished under the contempt of court rule and why directives should not be given to issue a show cause notice against him.