Dr Yunus gets bail until appeal disposal
Govt, not workers, filed the case, says the Nobel laureate
Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus has been granted bail until disposal of an appeal filed against his jail sentence in a labour law violation case.
On 1 January, Dhaka Labour Court-3 sentenced Grameen Telecom Chairman Dr Yunus and three of its senior officials to six months in jail and fined Tk30,000 each, in the case filed by the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments.
The charges include failing to provide a 5% dividend to the Grameen Telecom workers, not regularising 101 staffers, and not compensating workers for working on public holidays.
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on Sunday, the Labour Appeal Tribunal accepted the appeal and granted bail to all four, including the Nobel Peace Prize winner, after they appeared before the court and applied for bail.
Defence lawyer Barrister Abdullah Al-Mamun told the media that the four had been granted bail until the appeal is disposed of. The tribunal also stayed the labour court order to pay the fine and bonus, he added.
The Nobel laureate, after receiving bail, said, "High-level government officials have been repeatedly saying that this case was not filed by the government. But that is not true."
He told the journalists present, "You are the witnesses... the government has filed the case, not the workers. The Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments is a government organisation. The government filed the case, not the workers."
Khurshid Alam Khan, the lawyer for the Directorate of Factories, told journalists that an appeal will be filed with the High Court seeking the cancellation of the Labour Appellate Tribunal's order granting bail.
On 9 September 2021, Inspector Arifuzzaman from the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments filed the case with the labour court and the court summoned the four accused to appear before it by 12 October 2021.
On 1 January, Dhaka Labour Court-3 sentenced Dr Yunus and three others but granted them a month's bail, on condition of filing an appeal against the verdict.
The other three accused are – Grameen Telecom's Director (former managing director) Md Ashraful Hassan, and members of the Board of Directors Nurjahan Begum and Md Shahjahan.
