Unfortunately for the nation, however, this has happened. Yes, it was a clear case of forgery by some members of the Chittagong University staff, and the ambitious blockhead Faisal Mahmud Faizee was one of the many beneficiaries.

This was a case of blatant fraud on the part of Faizee as well, since he used that forged document to enter the bar and then spoil the sanctity of the judiciary. Yes, he deserves no mercy. Because his offence is of a grave nature, he can initially be charged under the criminal procedure code.

But, what about the people that went to great lengths to defend him to the last? Did they commit a lesser crime? Does one need to be a legal expert to comment that they had committed a serious felony?

Many people of the land know by now that those people included some key people within the judiciary, and people within the previous 4-party alliance government, who kept on providing Faizee with all the ammunition to make a mockery of the judiciary.

The whole nation wondered how an impostor could be so brazenly backed by the state machinery. The state machinery resorted to tyranny as well, by using the judiciary to silence the dissenting voices.

Yes, the judiciary meted out punishments of various categories to the media people -- belonging to Prothom Alo and Bhorer Kagoj -- for bringing out the forgery issue in public. What requital for the people who came to the rescue of the prestige of the judiciary!

One wonders how the judges delivered their judgment against the journalists even before resolution of the forgery issue by the Chittagong University authorities.

It is to be noted here that two major dailies, Prothom Alo and Bhorer Kagoj, reported on October 30, 2004, that Faizee, one of the 19 additional judges appointed on August 23, 2004, had tampered with his mark sheet of the Muslim Law examinations he sat for from Chittagong Law College in 1989. They also mentioned in their reports that a Chittagong University enquiry committee formed on April 25, 1996, had revealed the fraud.

Fortunately for the judiciary, however, the judgment was kept in abeyance by another bench. The punishment was served in a contempt of court case moved by Faizee's father. That Faizee's father lied in the affidavit has now been proved beyond doubt by the Chittagong University decision to cancel Faizee's LLB mark sheet because of tampering.

Thus, Faizee's father, despite being a lawyer himself, committed a criminal offence for which he, too, can be prosecuted. Interestingly, the then ministry of law under Barrister Moudud Ahmed was also said to be instrumental in promoting Faizee. The then Chittagong University administration can also hardly be absolved.

Whether due to pressure from, or loyalty to, the alliance in power, the then Chittagong University administration did not play a proactive role in salvaging the situation. Whereas the duty of the University administration was to cooperate with the people who were trying to sort out the forgery issue, it literally connived with the Faizee sympathizers by keeping mum.

Will it, then, be an exaggeration if it is complained that Faizee and the people that blindly backed and promoted him, in fact, committed a treachery against the country by putting the altar of justice, as well as the last resort of the oppressed -- the judiciary -- in real jeopardy?

It is only by luck that the forgery has at last been unveiled, thanks to the advent of a reform-oriented caretaker government under the leadership of Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed.

I am doubly sure that the report involving Faizee would not have seen the light of day had the 4-party alliance -- staunch supporter of Faizee -- come back to power through a sham election on January 22.

Many even commented -- however funny it sounds -- that Faizee would have been made chief justice by now had they come back to power. After all, nothing was impossible in their last tenure.

The bottom line is that the Faizee episode was not an isolated issue. It was, to my mind, a culmination of the previous government's rampant penchant for politicization of the judiciary. Though this sort of politicization had been going on for quite a long period, the previous alliance government dealt deathblows to the image and viability of the judiciary. Admittedly, some other extremely controversial issues coupled with the unforgivable Faizee scam brought the judiciary to the brink of total collapse.

Yes, their brawn power grew so wild that they acted frivolously with almost every state institution, and the judiciary was one of the terrible casualties. A new chief justice has taken oath, and vowed to bring back discipline in the judiciary.

As a citizen of the country I, first of all, seek a strong judicial enquiry into the whole gamut of affairs relating to the Faizee anecdote which, to all intents and purposes, amounts to treachery against the country, for which all the culprits behind it should be exposed to justice for the sake of the judiciary itself, if not anything else.

Kazi SM Khasrul Alam Quddusi is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.