Sylhet Bureau

A case has been filed in Sylhet against former Supreme Court Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik for attempting to enter India illegally.

The Kanaighat police station officers filed the case under Passport Act, Jahangir Hossain Sardar, officer-in-charge (OC) of the police station, confirmed.

Manik has close ties with Awami League, which was ousted from power on 5 August in a student-people movement. The autocratic regime’s ouster has spiked fears of revenge attacks by general people and political opponents among Awami League leaders and their allies including Manik.

On Friday night, he was caught by the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) while allegedly attempting to cross into India through the Dana border in Kanaighat Upazila of Sylhet.

He was handed over to Kanaighat Police Station early Saturday. Later, a court in Sylhet on Saturday afternoon sent him to jail.

Judge Alamgir Hossain of the Sylhet Judicial Magistrate Court-1 gave the jail order after police produced Manik before the court under Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code, according to Court Inspector Jamshed Alam.

Witnesses reported that a crowd hurled eggs and shoes at the former justice as he was being taken to court, with some individuals attempting to physically assault him.

Manik sustained critical injuries after unruly people attacked him on the premises of the Sylhet court.

Later, he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital following surgery to stop internal bleeding from ruptured testicles.

Currently, he is undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Recently, a case was filed with the Noakhali court against Manik for making derogatory remarks about the founder of BNP, former president and army chief Ziaur Rahman.

Lawyer Ziaul Haque filed another case as a plaintiff with the court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Saiful Islam on 22 August on the same complaint.

The court directed the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) to investigate the complaint.