Apex court upholds HC order staying 5 cases against Dr Yunus

The Appellate Division on Monday upheld a High Court order that stayed five cases against Nobel Laureate and Chairman of Grameen Communications Dr Muhammad Yunus for violating the labour law.

A three-member virtual bench headed by Justice Muhammad Imman Ali passed the order after resolving five appeals by the prosecution.

Barrister Mustafizur Rahman Khan stood for Dr Yunus while Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta represented the state.

On July 3 last year, three sacked employees of Grameen Communications filed the cases with the Labour Court against Yunus, Naznin Sultana, Managing Director, and Khandakar Abu Abedin, Deputy Managing Director of Grameen Communications.

According to the case statements, the trio was terminated as they tried to form a trade union at their workplace.

On October 9, 2019, the Dhaka Labour Court ordered the arrest of Dr Yunus as he did not appear before the court responding to its previous order.

The High Court on Oct 14 last year stayed the arrest warrant until Oct 25.

Later, Dr Yunus secured bail in those cases and filed a petition seeking the court’s directives to scrap the cases.

On March 4 this year, the High Court stayed the trial proceeding of the cases filed against him.