Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury and four other Appellate Division judges left the courtroom on Tuesday after Supreme Court Bar Association president AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon allegedly criticised the chief justice over court administration.
Khokon, who is also a Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker, further remarked that lawyers’ incomes had declined since Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury took office.
Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury was sworn in as the 26th chief justice on December 28, 2025 during the interim administration led by Professor Muhammad Yunus.
The incident happened in the crowded courtroom of the Chief Justice centring the Appellate Division’s verdict in a case regarding the cancellation of the appointment of a kazi, a Muslim Marriage Registrar.
In its verdict, the five-judge bench chaired by the Chief Justice fined the kazi, Mohammad Nur Alam, and his lawyer Sufia Ahamed Tk 5,00,000 each.
Khokon, who was the kazi’s senior lawyer, was not present in the morning when the court passed the order of fine.
Attorney general Md Ruhul Quddus Kazal who was present at the time said that Khokon later appeared before the court and pleaded for the fine’s waiver, saying that being a junior lawyer, Sufia Ahamed did not afford to pay the fine.
Khokon, further remarked that lawyers faced a decline in incomes after Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury took office, Kazal said while briefing the incident to journalists at his office.
According to Kazal, the Chief Justice initially reacted with a smile and told Khokon that he could lodge a complaint against him.
When Khokon repeated the remark, the Chief Justice described it as ‘contemptuous’ and then stood up and left the courtroom, saying that he would not participate in the day’s proceedings.
Four other judges—Justice Md Rezaul Haque, Justice SM Emdadul Hoque, Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Md Habibul Gani—also followed him.
Several senior lawyers, including SM Shajahan, requested the chief justice to remain in the courtroom, but he did not return.
Later in the afternoon, Khokon at a press briefing said, ‘Lawyers earn from cases. If cases are not heard, their income naturally falls.’
Many litigants were waiting for justice for long, while lawyers were also unable to conduct cases regularly, he said.
He further said that his responsibility was to raise the concerns of lawyers.
‘I did not think the Chief Justice would react so strongly,’ he added.
