Manik’s (in)justice

Infographic: TBS

Until he was found lying on banana leaves on the ground at the Sylhet border with false happiness that he entered India in his successful endeavour to flee Bangladesh and was caught first by locals and later handed over to Border Guard Bangladesh on 23 August night — ex-justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik remained disappeared from the public life first time in years after the fall of Sheikh Hasina regime on 5 August in a mass uprising.

Except for this brief period of less than three weeks, he was always vocal and frequently became a topic of controversy. When he was a judge of the Supreme Court from 2009 to 2015, he was mired in controversial works. 

After his retirement, he continued to keep himself in the limelight with many controversial remarks including his continuous verbal attacks on late president Ziaur Rahman.

Last time, he was in public discussion, but was under fire, after a talk show video went viral like a hot cake weeks ago. It showed an arrogant Manik in defence of the Hasina regime over job quota reform and launching a blistering attack on a young woman who was anchoring the talk show of Channel-I. 

Manik sided with Hasina, who had criticised the students of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement terming them as "Razakars."

Until the fateful 5 August, Manik was a fortunate man who climbed the ladder fast, reached the peak and remained "above the law." No criticism, no outcry could throw him out of the good book of Hasina.  

When he was a judge in the High Court Division his arrogant attitude was exposed; he was accused of violating the Constitution by the Speaker and being labelled as a 'sadist' by a top leader of the Awami League in a stormy discussion in parliament demanding action against him.

During the hearing of a case in 2012, he had accused then-Speaker Abdul Hamid, who would become president later, of committing an offence tantamount to sedition for Hamid's comments in the House on a High Court order. 

Justice Manik also said the Speaker was completely ignorant of the apex court and the Constitution.

The then-chief justice was asked by the Speaker through his ruling issued in parliament to take action against Manik for "violation of the Constitution" by making derogatory comments about the Speaker. But, a meeting between the then CJ and the Speaker at later's office in the parliament building reconciled the issue.  

Instead of taking action, Manik was rewarded the next year as the Hasina government appointed him as a judge to the Appellate Division by superseding as many as 21 judges in the High Court Division.

Before his retirement in 2015, he was mired into controversy frequently in the headlines for clashing with the then chief justice S K Sinha who asked his colleague Manik to write judgements in around 161 cases before retirement leading to the dispute.

After the exchange of several letters between the duo, a furious Justice Manik, in September 2015, took the unprecedented step of sending a letter to President Abdul Hamid seeking the CJ's removal on the charge of "violation of the Constitution."

After his retirement, he got the scope to settle the old score in 2017.

He joined the government's bandwagon to launch scathing verbal attacks on Chief Justice SK Sinha for declaring the Constitution's 16^th amendment illegal.

In TV talk shows, public programmes and interviews with the media, he continued the attack. He termed the 16^th amendment judgement as a "hotchpotch verdict" written by "agents of ISI." He branded Justice SK Sinha as a "Razakar" too and demanded his removal.

The then-chief justice was asked by the Speaker through his ruling issued in parliament to take action against Manik for "violation of the Constitution" by making derogatory comments about the Speaker. But, a meeting between the then CJ and the Speaker at later's office in the parliament building reconciled the issue. Instead of taking action, Manik was rewarded the next year as the Hasina government appointed him as a judge to the Appellate Division by superseding as many as 21 judges in the High Court Division.

During his job as an apex court judge and after his retirement, he tried to portray himself as one of the biggest defenders of the Constitution and in so doing he did not hide his hatred against Gen Ziaur Rahman for his martial law regime.

But he was soft on Gen Ershad who not only subverted the Constitution but also kept it suspended for years. He was rarely heard criticising Gen Ershad, who was chairman of the Jatiya Party until his last breath and his party was a partner of the AL-led electoral alliance in the 2008 and 2018 elections. And, the party was also forced to join the 2014 one-sided election boycotted by the BNP and its allies.

All of his controversial works contributed to developing his image of a "partisan judge."  

Therefore, along with the fall of Sheikh Hasina, the "Iron Dome" that she had built through the politicisation of every public institution including the judiciary, police, and bureaucracy to protect herself and her associates collapsed too making Manik and others vulnerable. 

The Iron Dome is a defensive system to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells.

Hasina resigned and fled the country on 5 August ending her 15 years of regimented rule. But Justice Manik, considered as one of the associates to build her despotic regime, could not make it.

He miserably failed to enter India by crossing the Bangladesh border. He was assaulted by a human trafficking ring within the Indian border and they snatched his cash, according to him, which was Tk60 lakh, his mobile phone and both British and Bangladeshi passports were seized.

He was abandoned by his traffickers at the Bangladesh border. Initially, Manik thought, lying on banana leaves, that he had already entered India and refused locals to take him 'back' to Bangladesh.

First, he was detained by locals and handed over to the BGB. In the early morning of Saturday, BGB handed him over to a local police station there. He was produced before a Sylhet court in the afternoon which sent him to jail.

Such a humiliating fall was beyond anyone's wild imagination even weeks ago.

Manik's unstoppable rise

After returning home from the United Kingdom, Justice Manik began his career as a lawyer in the High Court in 1978. He was known as a pro-AL lawyer in later years. Luck favoured him only after the Awami League returned to power in 1996 and he was appointed as deputy attorney general. 

The Hasina government appointed him as an additional judge of the High Court in July 2001.

But his luck did not last long due to the changeover of power in the 2001 election. He was not confirmed as a judge by the BNP government that formed through the 2001 election.

His unstoppable rise however began with Hasina's return to power by winning a landslide in December 2008 parliamentary election.

Following a verdict of the apex court, Manik and nine other judges were reinstated in March 2009. They were appointed by the AL government in 2001 but later not confirmed by the BNP government.

After being reinstated, Manik came into the limelight the next year by declaring the 7^th amendment to the Constitution illegal, which was made by the Gen Ershad regime, validating his extra-constitutional takeover of power and all activities during his martial law regime.

Next year in 2011, Justice Manik declared the Col Taher trial illegal. Manik who authored the lead verdict declaring the trial illegal launched a scathing attack on General Ziaur Rahman terming him a "cold-blooded murderer." 

In the verdict, Manik also asked the government to form a committee to probe Zia's alleged involvement in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman killing. His remarks about Gen Zia drew huge criticism from the BNP camp.

Manik however did not stop to blast Zia. 

After his retirement, Justice Manik regularly appeared on television talk shows and took part in social movements. He has consistently been a vocal supporter of the Awami League government. He kept on attacking Gen Ziaur Rahman. 

In 2022, Manik called Ziaur Rahman a "Razakar and war criminal" on a talk show which was broadcast on a private television channel. A year later he alleged Ziaur was "not a freedom fighter" and labelled him as an "infiltrator".

The constitutional 7^th amendment verdict which was authored by Manik was upheld by the Appellate Division led by Chief Justice Khairul Haque in May 2011. Justice Haq who was appointed as a High Court judge during Hasina's first government, declared the 5^th amendment to the Constitution illegal in 2005, which validated the first martial law regime and all activities during the regime led by Gen Zia most of the time.

The year Manik was reinstated as High Court judge, Justice Khairul Haq was elevated to the Appellate Division. In September 2010, the Hasina government appointed him as the head of the judiciary, superseding two senior judges – Justice MA Matin and Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman.

At the fag end of his tenure as the CJ, Justice Khairul Haque led the appellate division to declare the non-partisan election-time caretaker government illegal arming Hasina to abolish the system through a constitutional amendment in 2011.

What was Manik doing in the High Court then? 

A month before Justice Khairul Huq authored the lead verdict to declare the non-partisan caretaker government illegal, Manik authored the lead verdict declaring Col Taher's trial under Ziaur Rahman's rule illegal and termed it as a "cold-blooded murder."

At least three of the 10 judges who were reinstated in 2009 to the High Court Division made history in their own way. One of them is Manik.

One of them, who became presiding judge of an International Crimes Tribunal holding trial of alleged crimes against humanity during Bangladesh's independence war resigned in December 2012 amid criticism of his Skype and email conversations with a Belgium-based Bangladeshi lawyer concerning the workings of the war crimes tribunal.

The luckiest one among them became the chief justice of Bangladesh. On the last day of office in September last year, he railed against a US visa policy, which was imposed in May declaring that individuals responsible for undermining the democratic process would be denied US visas.

The judge who succeeded him was forced to resign as the chief justice on 10 August as he was accused of being an associate of the Hasina regime.     

More controversial antics by Manik's hands

Manik drew controversy after submitting verdicts in dozens of cases after his retirement, making questionable remarks on television as well as criminal misconduct. The Supreme Court Bar Association did not give him farewell which is unprecedented.

When he was a High Court judge, he used to summon government officials and individuals to appear before his court and he kept them standing in the dock for hours and insulted them.

Manik accused traffic police officers of contempt of court for not saluting his car. This later turned into a major event leading to the removal of the IGP.

He was accused of forcing traffic sergeants to squat while holding their ears in court for not saluting the car of a high court judge. 

He summoned the managing director of Biman Bangladesh Airlines and the captain of a flight over alleged misconduct with him. He was accused of forcefully sitting in business class seats when he bought economy class tickets through the misuse of his position. 

Appearing before his court the Biman officials had to seek unconditional apology.

After his retirement, he was accused of keeping a government house under his possession for two years without paying rent and clearing utility bills.

Not but least, Manik's saga is not a pleasant thing for the judiciary as he is a product of a certain period of the judiciary.