Lawyers in Chandpur continued their boycott of three judges for a ninth day on Thursday, staging a protest march and wearing black badges as they demanded the judges’ withdrawal over allegations of discourteous behaviour and a breakdown in coordination between the Bar and the Bench.

The three judges are Chief Judicial Magistrate Mujahidur Rahman, Senior Judicial Magistrate Court-1 Judge Palash Bardhan and Sadar Senior Civil Judge Shampa Islam.

The Chandpur District Bar Association organised Thursday’s demonstration at the District Judge’s Court premises around 11am.

Lawyers wearing black badges marched from the court premises onto the Chandpur-Cumilla regional road before returning to the court.

The protest followed an emergency general meeting of the association on September 9, when nearly 450 lawyers decided to boycott the courts of the three judges.

Since then, lawyers have held protest rallies, formed human chains and staged demonstrations demanding their withdrawal.

District Bar Association President Advocate Shamsul Islam Montu said the lawyers did not have a dispute with the judiciary itself but objected to what he described as poor coordination and discourteous treatment.

“We have no conflict with the judges. Our concern is the lack of coordination between judges and lawyers and discourteous behaviour,” he said.

Montu also urged litigants not to enter the three boycotted courts and asked lawyers’ assistants not to pursue cases there. He said steps should be taken to ensure that litigants were not harmed by the ongoing dispute.

District Bar Association General Secretary Advocate Zakir Hossain Talukder Faisal moderated Thursday’s programme.

Former association president Advocate Kamal Uddin and senior lawyers Humayun Kabir, Shirin Akter Mukta, Abu Bakar, Masud Pradhania, Atiqur Rahman and Saddam Hossain, among others, also addressed the gathering.

The lawyers have said their protests will continue over the alleged conduct of the judges and problems in Bar-Bench coordination.

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