Without disclosing the identity of the judge, Barrister Rokan alleged that the judge received Tk 50,000 in 'fee' from an accused in a woman repression case to arrange bail.

The bail-seeker was hesitant to pay the fee as the judge was no longer a lawyer he used to be few months back. But the judge assured him that the judge in that particular case was his close friend and that he could easily 'manage' the bail.

"The judge who used to be a lawyer before he was inducted in April this year hired a junior lawyer to draft a bail petition," Rokan said at an emergency general meeting of the Bar Association that enforced a countrywide court boycott yesterday.

"The lawyer then moved the bail petition in the High Court bench that includes the judge's close friend. But the bail petition was rejected when a senior female judge disagreed," Rokan told the meeting, participated by hundreds of lawyers and some journalists.

"The client then came to me and shared the incident," he said. "I was so stunned. How could a judge do this?

"This is just an example how the quality of the judiciary has been deteriorated with the politicisation of judges' recruitment by the present government.

"Inefficient and unqualified persons are being hired as judges, only on the basis of their loyalty to the ruling alliance. And, we are left to face the consequences," he said.

Barrister Rokan also noted that the judge in question was once an office bearer of the Bar. "He was accused of misappropriation of the Bar funds then," he added.