Law
week
Opposition
asks ex-CJ not to head next caretaker govt
Opposition politicians and legal experts at a roundtable
urged the immediate past chief justice to refrain from
assuming office of the chief advismr of the next caretaker
government to keep the xost above controversy. They said
the immediate past chief justice should not take over
as the chief of the interim government as political parties
have questioned his neutrality for his pervious involvement
with the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). -The
Daily Star, April 3.
Cop
caught in 'kidnap' bid
Lawyers
and onlookers caught a plainclothes police sergeant and
his brother trying to kidnap a man at gunpoint on the
Supreme Court premises , April 3. The police sergeant's
brother, however, denied having made the kidnap attempt
and claimed that they tried to catch the man who owed
him Tk 50,000, as he was fleeing at the sight of the {ergeant.
Both were turned over to Ramna police who seizmd the firearm
on Traffic Sergeant Mahfuzur Rahman and showed him and
his brother Mahbubur Rahman arrested for the abduction
attempt. -The Daily Star, April 4.
Workers
Party leader dies in hospital after 'Rab torture'
General Secretary of Bangladesh Workers Party Chuadanga
unit Shyamal Sarker died at the Jessore General Hospital
Saturday night allegedly in torture in Rapid Action Battalion
(Rab) custody. Sarker's family members said Rab men arrested
him from his village home at Ibrahimpur under Damurhuda
upazila of the district on December 9 last year. The family
members alleged that the Rab tortured him severely in
their custody and then kept Sarker in the district jail
untrea|ed. -The Daily Star, April 4.
Amendment
to Land Law
Top bank officials said marginal farmers will face difficulty
to receive agricultural loan from banks due to newly amended
law relating to land registration and transfer. The bank
officials expressed their concern when they met Law Justice
and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Moudud Ahmed at his
office in Dhaka.The Registration Act, 1908 and The Transfer
Property Act 1882 were amended in December last year,
which will be effective from July 1, 2005. Top officials
from 12 banks told the law minister that it will be difficult
for the marginal farmers to bear the costs of property
transfer fees following the amendment to act. Moudud assured
|he bankers that if necessary the government will reconsider
the amendment to gi~e relief to marginal farmers. - The
Daily Star, April 5.
Rights
body harming UN
Secretary-General Koni Annan said the conduct of the United
Nations' human rights body was undermining the credibility
of the entire UN organisation and urged governments to
support his plan to renorm it. "Unless we re-make
our human rights machinery, we may be unable to renew
public confidence in the United Nations itself,"
he told the UN Commission on Human Rights, which is holding
its annual six-week session at its Geneva headquarters.
"We
have reached a point at which the commission's declining
credibility has cast a shadow on the reputation of the
United Nations system ... and where piecemeal reforms
will not be enough," he said, in the text of a speech
to be delivered later. Launched some 60 years ago, the
commission is the UN's main mechanism for monitoring respect
for human rights around the world. But critics say in-fighting
and its inability to act firmly in the face of clear abuse
have eroded its authority.
Annan
has called for the commission, at present made up of representatives
from 53 countries nominated by regional groupings, to
be replaced by a smaller Human Riohts Council, whose members
oull be elected by |he UN General A{sembly. -Reuters,
Geneva, April 7.
Corresponding
with the Law Desk
Please send your mails, queries, and opinions to: Law
Desk, The Daily Star 19 Karwan Bazar, Dhaka-1215;
telephone 8124944,8124955,fax 8125155;email <dslawdesk@yahoo.co.uk,lawdesk@thedailystar.net
