Amu's lawyer attacked, thrown out from court premises

During a hearing on the remand plea for senior Awami League leader and former minister Amir Hossain Amu today (7 November) his lawyer Swapan Roy Chowdhury was attacked by other lawyers and thrown out from the court premises.

Amu was arrested from Dhanmondi area in Dhaka yesterday (6 November). He has been accused in several cases.

Police presented him in court today with a 10-day remand plea in a case filed in the murder of businessman Abdul Wadud. Meanwhile, the accused's lawyer filed a bail plea in the case.

Rejecting the bail plea Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shaheen Reza granted a six-day remand for the AL leader.

During the hearing, Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court Chief Public Prosecutor (PP) Omar Farooq Farooqui said Amu is one of the associates of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. 

Innocent people have been killed by shooting during protests led by Anti-Discrimination Student Movement. The accused was involved in the planning and conspiracy of these murders. He needs to be remanded for questioning to unravel the mystery of the incident.

On the other hand, the defendant appealed for scrapping the remand plea and applied for bail. When Amu's lawyer Swapan Roy Chowdhury started speaking in the court, a group of lawyers beat him up and threw him out.

Later, Amu himself spoke in the court. 

He said he does not want to speak considering the environment created when his lawyer spoke.

"Lawyers are brothers. When the atmosphere is right, we will definitely talk," he said.

Amu was elected Member of the Parliament from Jhalakati-2 constituency three times. 

In a similar incident, a heated exchange between a judge and a lawyer in the Chattogram Metropolitan Magistrate's Court on 22 October led to an unexpected disruption, with the presiding judge leaving the courtroom and other magistrates following suit. 

Showaibul Islam, who was injured during the student movement on 17 July, came to the court to file a case naming 126 individuals as accused. 

Showaibul's lawyer Ashraf Hossain Chowdhury, general secretary of the Chittagong District Bar Association and newly appointed public prosecutor of Chattogram District, pleaded the court to accept the case and forward the statement to a police station for further action.

According to witnesses, the court initially accepted the plaintiff's statement, but tensions arose when the judge instructed Showaibul to provide the names of all the accused. 

The plaintiff named only a few individuals, prompting his lawyer to intervene, arguing that it was impractical to list every accused person in that manner. This led to a heated exchange between the judge and the lawyer. The back-and-forth grew increasingly tense, with words escalating into what some described as a commotion in the courtroom. 

At one point, Magistrate Oli Ullah, appearing visibly frustrated, ordered the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to investigate the case. Then the judge left the courtroom.