Nobel Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus said he is innocent after a Dhaka court sentenced him to six months of imprisonment in a case filed for violating labor laws.

He came up with the reaction to the verdict pronounced by Judge Sheikh Merina Sultana of Dhaka's 3rd Labour Court.

Dr. Yunus said, “I was punished for a crime I did not commit. This sadness remained in my mind.” 

Merina Sultana sentenced Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus to six years in jail in his presence around 3 pm on Monday (January 1).

Soon after the judgment, Yunus submitted a bail plea and granted it on condition of submitting an appeal within a month.

Earlier, on December 24, the court fixed today for pronouncing the verdict.

Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) Inspector Arifuzzaman filed the case on September 9, 2021, and the court had summoned the four to appear before it by October 12, 2021.

According to the case documents, a team of the DIFE went on an inspection to the Grameen Telecom and found the violations of labour laws like not regularizing 101 staff and not establishing a welfare fund for the laborers, among others.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on August 20 dismissed the leave to appeal petition filed by Grameen Telecom Chairman and Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, challenging a High Court verdict that rejected his petition against labour court's indictment order.

On July 23 this year, a High Court bench issued a rule asking the state to explain why the labour court order that framed charges against Dr Yunus and three others should not be scrapped, followed by an application submitted on May 19 by the noble laureate. The High Court on August 8 scrapped the rule.

Earlier, DIFE lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan said they have sought the highest punishment of Dr Muhammad Yunus and the three others in the case.

BDST: 1932 HRS, JAN 01, 2024
MSK/SMS