Labour law case against Yunus, 3 others: Judge leaves court amid chaos

Heated arguments between the defence and prosecution in the labour law violation case against Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus and three others caused the judge to leave the courtroom, resulting in an 80-minute break in proceedings.

Sheikh Merina Sultana, chairman of the Third Labour Court of Dhaka, started hearing the cross examination of prosecution witness Tariqul Islam at 12:55pm today, but left the courtroom around 1:40pm following a heated exchange between the prosecution and defence centring submission of a defence petition, court sources said.

The trial proceedings restarted at 3:00pm and ended for the day around 4:15pm, the sources added.

Prof Yunus, also chairman of Grameen Telecom, did not appear before the court today. He was represented by his lawyer.

The three other accused are Grameen Telecom top officials -- Ashraful Hassan, Nurjahan Begum, and Mohammad Shahjahan.

On June 6, the court framed charges against the accused, including Prof Yunus, in the case.

On September 9, 2021, Labour Inspector (general) SM Arifuzzaman of the Inspection for Factories and Establishments Department (IFED) filed the case with the Third Labour Court of Dhaka.

According to the case documents, IFED officials on August 16, 2021, inspected the office of Grameen Telecom in the capital's Mirpur and found several violations of labour laws.

On August 19 that year, the department sent a letter to the authorities of Grameen Telecom, mentioning that 67 of its employees were supposed to be made permanent employees. But it was not done, the case statement said.

Besides, the employee's participation and welfare funds were yet to be formed, and five percent of the company's dividends supposed to be paid to the workers, were not paid, it added.