“I was punished in a crime I did not commit”: Yunus

Nobel Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus has claimed his innocence after a Dhaka court sentenced him to six months of imprisonment in a case filed for violating labor laws.

“I was punished for a crime that I did not commit. This sadness remained in my mind,” said the Nobel Laureate in an instant reaction upon the verdict pronounced by Judge Sheikh Merina Sultana of Dhaka's 3rd Labour Court.

Sheikh Merina Sultana delivered the verdict around 3 pm on Monday in the presence of Yunus and three other accused individuals in connection with the case.

Dr. Yunus was present in the court when the judgment was delivered by Judge Merina Sultana.

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

Besides while talking to the journalists, Yunus’s Lawyer Abdullah Al Mamun in his reaction, termed the justice as an instance and said that his client denied justice.      

The three other convicts are Grameen Telecom's director and former managing director Md Ashraful Hasan, members of Board of Directors Nur Jahan Begum and Md Shahjahan. The court, however, allowed the four convicts bail after pronouncement of the judgment.

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

Marking the judgment, Yunus came to the court around 1.40 pm with his lawyers. The judge started reading out the summary of the total 84-page judgment at 2.15 pm.

Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) Inspector Arifuzzaman filed the case on September 9, 2021.

The court on June 6, 2023, framed charges in the case. A total of four prosecution witnesses including the plaintiff testified on different hearing dates.

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, not establishing a welfare fund for the labourers, and not paying five percent of the company's dividends to the workers, among others.

DIFE lawyer senior advocate Khurshid Alam Khan said they are happy with the judgment, while defence counsel Barrister Abdullah Al Mamun said they did not get justice and will go to High Court against the judgment.