Is Bangladesh Facing a Surge of 'Fake Cases' Under the Yunus Administration?

Synopsis
Key Takeaways
- Increase in mob attacks raises alarm about public safety.
- Judicial independence is under threat due to political interference.
- Opposition leaders and citizens face legal harassment.
- Calls for accountability and reform in the justice system.
- Potential long-term consequences for Bangladesh’s democratic integrity.
Dhaka, July 30 (NationPress) The media unit of the Bangladesh Awami League announced on Wednesday that the nation is currently experiencing a troubling increase in “fake legal cases, mob violence, and political vendettas” under the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus.
The party revealed that there have been 253 mob attacks in the past 10 months, resulting in 163 fatalities and 312 injuries, all while maintaining a state of “zero accountability.”
The Awami League posed the question of how much longer Bangladesh would continue to “suffer under the pretense of reform.”
They emphasized a significant “breakdown of the justice system” amid a “tidal wave of false cases” since the departure of the democratically elected Awami League government led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
According to the Awami League, “from absurd arrests of former ministers to the wrongful accusations against deceased individuals in murder cases, the judiciary has turned into a platform for political theatrics rather than genuine justice.”
The party further criticized Yunus for being “silently complicit” as opposition leaders, journalists, and ordinary citizens become victims of legal harassment.
This situation is unfolding against the backdrop of the arrest of former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque on allegations of judicial forgery.
Awami League leader and former Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Mohammad A. Arafat, accused the Yunus administration of extreme politicization of the criminal justice system, referencing the arrest of Haque on “baseless murder charges.”
Arafat claimed that an “axis of evils”—the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami—are behind the arrest, with the Yunus regime executing their agenda.
He stated, “The primary motivation for implicating Justice ABM Khairul Haque and arresting him on false charges is political retribution. His 2011 ruling that declared the caretaker government system unconstitutional is at the heart of this issue. Despite the uproar from BNP-Jamaat and their international allies regarding the verdict, it was undeniably a lawful decision.”
Arafat added, “Bringing murder accusations against a judge merely because of a previous judicial ruling disfavored by the BNP-Jamaat—and arresting him in a vengeful context when he has no connection to the incident—is a direct attack on judicial independence and the rule of law. Yet, this is precisely what has transpired under Yunus’s leadership recently in Bangladesh.”
The Awami League leader noted that the police officers involved in the arrest of Justice Haque, along with the high-ranking officials who issued the orders and the magistrates who detained him, are fully aware that he has no relation to the murder and that such allegations are unsubstantiated.
Nevertheless, he asserted that under the direction of the Yunus administration, they have “unjustly and immorally” arrested and imprisoned him by falsely accusing him in the case.