‘My granddaughter is a little girl, you come one by one.’ This request could not melt the heart of BNP-Jamaat bigots. They gang-raped a young Hindu girl. Purnima Sheel was kidnapped from her house and gang-raped by these demons. Many such brutal incidents have taken place. In the more than 1500 page report of the Sahabuddin Commission, the report mentions the identity of more than five hundred torturers. The incidents began before and after the BNP-Jamaat won the 2001 elections, when the then so-called caretaker government was headed by the notorious Justice Latifur Rahman. After Khaleda Zia came to power, the violence continued under the direct guidance, support, favor and patronage of the government. Hundreds of Hindus were killed, hundreds of women were raped, hundreds of houses were burnt. Thousands of Hindus were expelled from the country. When someone went to file a case, the police said that there is an order from above not to file a case. Later, when High Court ordered the appointment of a commission to investigate the hellish incidents, the government at that time retired District Judge Md. A one-member inquiry commission was formed under the leadership of Sahabuddin. He had to overcome thousands of obstacles during the investigation. Apart from threats, the victims were not allowed to testify.

Many criminals acted as Awami League members, who tried to deceive Sahabuddin with false information. But all odds. Sahabuddin prepared a valuable historical investigation report. The post-election brutality of 2001 also shook the global conscience. An international conference was held in Dhaka under the leadership of Barrister Amir-ul Islam, in which many foreign human rights leaders and activists were present and strongly criticized the demonization.

This report prepared by a brave freedom fighter proves that Md. Sahabuddin's wisdom, talent, devotion, constitution, democracy, humanity, rule of law, secularism and above all his loyalty to the spirit of liberation war are unbreakable. As a true Mujibsena, he deserves the highest post of the country, the decision of which the Honorable Prime Minister and National Parliament of Bangladesh have won the praise of all. During his tenure as a member of the Anti-Corruption Commission, he has proven his commitment to honesty, integrity and indifference to injustice. Ignoring the pressure of many powerful people, he arranged to bring the corrupt to justice.

On the other hand, he also made arrangements so that innocent people are not subjected to unfair harassment. There was pressure on him from domestic and foreign influential quarters regarding the Padma Bridge to file a case against the then Minister Syed Abul Hossain, Secretary and former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury (Kaiser). Their unfair argument was that only by doing so would the World Bank loan be available. Md. Sahabuddin's clear reply was that he would not do wrong to please the World Bank, and therefore acquitted them of false charges as the allegations against the said persons were not found to be true.

After the Canadian court acquitted these innocent accused, it has been proved beyond all doubt that Md. Sahabuddin's decision was correct. His integrity, devotion to justice and years of judicial service enabled him to make such law and fact-backed decisions.

In the late 1990s, when the Bangabandhu assassination case was being tried in the High Court Division, I was charged with handling the case as Deputy Attorney General and in that capacity was privileged to be a member of the prosecution team led by senior lawyer Sirajul Haque. At that time Sahabuddin was assigned to communicate with us in the Bangabandhu assassination case as the Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Law. This was part of his official duties as Deputy Secretary of the Ministry. Since then, acquaintance and closeness with Sahabuddin and that is the opportunity to know how wise a man he is, to know about his unwavering loyalty to all the good things including the constitution, democracy, rules of law, liberation war spirit, anti-communal spirit and Bangabandhu's ideals. All the qualities, skills and qualifications needed to become the President is among Sahabuddin.

A group who are determined to discredit the current liberation war spirit government by any means resorting to injustice and lies. A large part of whom or their ancestors were against the liberation war in 1971, could not accept the creation of Bangladesh after the break of Pakistan, today they started saying that Sahabuddin cannot assume the office of President as he was the Commissioner of ACC. Because the ACC Act states that after retirement the Commissioners shall be unable to accept any lucrative post in the republic. Such arguments of theirs are truly ridiculous which shows their ignorance of the constitution and laws.

Article 147 of the Constitution clearly states that eight posts, including the President and the Prime Minister, shall not be considered lucrative. These eight posts include persons working in constitutional posts. Abu Bakar Siddiqui v. Justice Md. Hon'ble High Court while delivering the judgment made it very clear that persons holding constitutional posts including the President are not officers of the Republic.

The judgment in that case also held that the words contained in Article 66 (3) of the Constitution to the effect that the President, Prime Minister, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Minister, Minister of State or Deputy Minister shall not be deemed to hold any office of profit are applicable only in limited cases. The argument attempted by the learned counsel is not at all acceptable.

The judgment stated that public servants are those who are employed by the government, which means that all public servants, from the minimum of a peon to the highest cabinet secretary, are considered to be servants of the republic. But no person holding a constitutional office can be considered an officer of the Republic, and in that sense the office of the President, being a constitutional office, is also not an officer of the Republic. Earlier when Justice Nurul Islam was appointed as the Vice President of the State, a writ was filed challenging his appointment and the High Court dismissed the writ and gave the same verdict.

In the case of Shamsul Haque Chowdhury vs. Justice Mohammad Abdur Rauf, dismissing the writ petition, the Hon'ble High Court clearly said that no person working in a constitutional position, including the judges of the Supreme Court, is an officer of the Republic. It is noteworthy that Article 99 (1) of the Constitution states that the Judges of the Supreme Court shall not be eligible for appointment to any lucrative position in the Republic after retirement.

Therefore, after the appointment of Justice Nurul Islam as the Vice President of the State, Justice Sahabuddin Ahmed as President and Justice Mohammad Abdur Rauf as the Chief Election Commissioner, the question arises about the constitutional capacity to assume the post of Supreme Court judge, Hon'ble High Court in the aforesaid judgments clearly stated that the posts of Hon'ble President, Vice-President, Supreme Court Justices and Chief Election Commissioner being constitutional posts, they are not officers of the Republic and hence the said restrictions do not apply to them.

Certainly the office of the President being the highest constitutional office, there is no scope for his office to be considered as an officer of the Republic. Those who are trying to mislead the people by talking of constitutional incapacity to assume the office of President, before uttering such foolish words, they should have read the relevant provisions of the Constitution and the said judgments of the High Court, otherwise they would not have become a laughing stock of the conscious people.

Writer: Retired Appellate Division Judge