The High Court on Monday deferred the hearing on former chief justice ABM Khairul Haque鈥檚 bail petition and plea to quash a murder case against him to August 17, following chaos in the courtroom between pro-Awami League lawyers and government law officers.
The incident occurred before the bench of Justice Md Zakir Hossain and Justice KM Rasheduzzaman Raja after deputy attorneys general Rasel Ahammad and Imran Khan had sought a one-week adjournment to allow the attorney general to appear.
However, senior lawyers ZI Khan Panna, MK Rahman, and dozens of pro-Awami League lawyers opposed the request and insisted on proceeding with the hearing.
Amid the chaos, the judges left the courtroom and postponed the hearing.
Khairul鈥檚 lawyers, Munsurul Hoque Chowdhury, Qumrul Haque Siddique, MK Rahman and Mohsen Rashid, urged the court to begin hearing the petition without any further delay.
They argued that the case had already been scheduled and delayed several times at the government鈥檚 request.
Tensions escalated when government law officers again requested an adjournment after the lunch break.
This was followed by heated arguments and a physical scuffle in the courtroom between the two groups of lawyers in the presence of the judges.
Pro-Awami League lawyers told the court that Khairul was arrested on July 24, 2025, over a murder committed during the July 2024 mass uprising, and a case was filed in this connection on July 6, 2025, a year after the murder.
But, the judiciary had remained silent, they said.
They noted that the former chief justice was produced before a court in a humiliating manner, handcuffed and wearing a helmet.
The case accuses Khairul, along with several hundred top Awami League leaders including ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and AL general secretary Obaidul Quader, of involvement in the July 2024 uprising that led to the death of Abdul Quiyyum, a Juba Dal leader, in Dhaka鈥檚 Kajla area.
The case was filed by Quiyyum鈥檚 father, Md Alauddin, with Jatrabari police station.
Khairul, 80, is the 44th named accused in the case.
He was arrested at his Dhanmondi home by the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police and sent to Dhaka Central Jail under heavy security.
His initial bail plea was rejected by Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Masum Miah on July 31, 2025.
The magistrate cited the ongoing investigation, the seriousness of the murder charge, and Khairul鈥檚 potential to influence the case or incite unrest.
He had also been shown arrested in three other cases related to judicial misconduct and the verdict manipulation.
One of the cases alleged that, as chief justice, Khairul presided over the 2011 Appellate Division verdict on the caretaker government system and, in open court, the verdict allowed the 10th and 11th parliamentary elections under a caretaker government.
However, the final written judgment released in 2012 after his retirement was altered to say only elected lawmakers could form the government.
Khairul now faces four separate cases on charges of murder, sedition, and verdict fraud, making him the first former chief justice in Bangladesh to be arrested and prosecuted on such grounds.
