The High Court has asked why an order should not be given to dissolve and withdraw the fact-finding, inquiry and investigation committees set up against more than 400 teachers at 22 public universities over allegations that they were carrying out secret activity on behalf of the banned Awami League with the aim of bringing Sheikh Hasina back to the country.
The High Court bench of Justice Bhishmadev Chakrabarty and Justice Sheikh Tahsin Ali issued the rule on Monday (September 21) after the preliminary hearing of a writ petition filed by four Supreme Court lawyers. The four lawyers filed the writ in court.
Their contention is that committees of this kind, set up to take action, are beyond the jurisdiction of those forming them.
On August 4 an online portal published a report headlined “Secret activity by 404 teachers at 22 universities to bring back Sheikh Hasina”. The petitioners say various steps are being taken against the teachers on the basis of that report.
They submitted an application seeking the dissolution of all the fact-finding and investigation committees set up against more than 400 teachers at 22 public universities on the basis of an “unverified” report, and the withdrawal of every step taken subsequently. They filed the writ because that application was not disposed of.
The rule asks why the respondents’ failure to dispose of the petitioners’ application should not be addressed, why the fact-finding, inquiry and investigation committees formed against more than 400 teachers at 22 public universities on the basis of that report, without legal jurisdiction or authority, and the steps taken by the respondents should not be declared unlawful and of no legal effect, and why the respondents should not be directed to dissolve and withdraw all of those committees.
The online portal’s report said 404 teachers at 22 public universities in the country were carrying on secret activity on behalf of the banned Awami League with the aim of creating conditions for Sheikh Hasina’s return to the country. The whole thing, it said, was coordinated through a secret group opened on the messaging app Telegram.
The Telegram group was named “Bangladesh Public University Progressive Teachers’ Society”. According to the report, its president is Professor Dr M Ohiduzzaman of the department of educational administration at Dhaka University, and its general secretary is Professor Dr Md Mahbubur Rahman of the department of electrical and electronic engineering (EEE) at Islamic University.
Twenty-eight pages of screenshots from the group said to be running the secret activity reached the online portal. The names of 404 people were identified there, the report said, with code names used for many of them. Beyond that, only the mobile numbers of another 21 people appear. Observation of the group’s activity showed that its members were meeting regularly using Telegram and other technologies, according to the report.