Habibur Rahman Khan

Habibur Rahman Khan
Justice of the High Court Division of Bangladesh
Personal details
Born(1930-01-05)5 January 1930
Died20 October 2015(2015-10-20) (aged 85)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
NationalityBangladeshi
ProfessionJudge

Habibur Rahman Khan (5 January 1930 – 20 October 2015) was a judge of the High Court Division of Bangladesh Supreme Court and the only chairman of the Truth and Accountability Commission.[1]

Early life

Khan was born on 5 January 1930 in Manikganj District, East Bengal, British India.[2]

Career

Khan led a judicial commission in 1998 that looked at the Shamim Reza Rubel murder in police custody.[3]

Khan was chairman of Bangladesh Press Council in 2006[4] and founder of Manikganj Zilla Samity.[2] He was a former president of the Dhaka Bar Association.[2]

In August 2007, clashes broke out between students of the University of Dhaka and Bangladesh Army soldiers stationed on campus and car of Directorate General of Forces Intelligence was burned.[5][6] In the following days protests spread to different districts in which one person was killed and 300 were injured.[5] Khan led a one man commission formed by the government to investigate the incident.[5][7] His investigation found no fault with the actions of the university teachers.[8] Bangladesh Police had detained Dr. Sadrul Amin, President of Dhaka University Teachers' Association and General Secretary of Dhaka University Teachers' Association M. Anwar Hossain.[9] The police also detained Professor Harun-or-Rashid and Professor Dr. Neem Chandra Bhowmik of the University of Dhaka along with 15 students.[6] His final report recommended that the government create a code of conduct for University of Dhaka students, teachers, and staff.[10]

On 30 July 2008, Khan was made the first chairman of the Truth and Accountability Commission.[11] The commission formed by the Fakhruddin Ahmed led Caretaker Government to investigate corruption.[12] The Commission would be declared illegal by the High Court Division.[13][14]

In 2010, Khan was made the leader of a single man commission to investigate government land which have been illegally occupied.[15] He reported the task to be impossible due to the size of the task and the lack of manpower.[15]

Death

Khan died on 20 October 2015 in United Hospital Limited, Dhaka, Bangladesh.[2]

References

  1. ^ "The Daily Star Web Edition Vol. 5 Num 308". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 2013-09-13. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  2. ^ a b c d "Justice Habibur Rahman Khan passes away". Daily Sun. 20 October 2015.
  3. ^ "Bangladesh top court bars arrest without warrant". Gulf-Times (in Arabic). 2016-05-25. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  4. ^ "The Daily Star Web Edition Vol. 5 Num 854". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 2022-03-28. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  5. ^ a b c "Bangladesh lifts curfew after peace restored". Reuters. 2007-08-28. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  6. ^ a b "DU teachers' ordeal drags on as charges framed again". The Daily Star. 2007-12-13. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  7. ^ "Probe body finds no instigative elements in day 1 incidents". The Daily Star. 2007-09-02. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  8. ^ "DU teachers were sincere in resolving crisis". The Daily Star. 2007-09-03. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  9. ^ "Dhaka University Teachers' Association (Duta) President Sadrul Amin, left, and General Secretary Anwar Hossain, right, were produced before the judicial probe commission of Justice Habibur Rahman Khan". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 2022-03-28. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  10. ^ Liton, Shakhawat (2008-04-02). "Judicial probe body wants code of conduct for DU teachers, students". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  11. ^ "Justice Habibur Rahman Khan to be Truth Commission chief". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  12. ^ "Truth Commission gets chief, members". The Daily Star. 2008-07-31. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  13. ^ "Tac set free for a month by SC". The Daily Star. 2008-11-17. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  14. ^ "PM discloses list of 456 people seeking Tac clemency". The Daily Star. 2009-04-02. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  15. ^ a b "Impossible to run Commission alone: Justice Habibur". banglanews24.com (in Bengali). 2010-08-20. Retrieved 2022-03-28.