Former chief justice of Bangladesh Surendra Kumar Sinha seeks political asylum in Canada

Bangladesh’s first non-Muslim chief justice S K Sinha has sought political asylum in Canada, reported the newspaper Corriere Canadese published in Canada on Tuesday and other newspapers in Dhaka on Thursday. Justice Sinha had earlier sought asylum in the US but he did not get any favourable response there.

He had left the country in October 2017 for Australia a few months before his due date of retirement in January 2018. A day after his departure the SC had issued a statement citing charges of money laundering, graft and moral turpitude against him. A Dhaka court has fixed August 28 for the submission of the probe report against Justice S.K.Sinha and eleven others.

He later sent his resignation from abroad which was accepted by the President on November 14, 2017.

In his autobiography published last year Justice S.K. Sinha claimed that he stepped down as Chief Justice due to intimidation and threats. The allegations have been denied by the government.

He had become the Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Bangladesh in January 2015. In September 2017 SC bench headed by him had given a judgement striking down the 16th constitutional amendment of Bangladesh which gave power to the parliament to remove justices of the Supreme Court. The judgment created tension between him and the government.