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History Of District Judiciary Of Sylhet
Sylhet is an ancient home town exalted with footprints of 360 muslim saints including Hazrat Shah Jalal and Hazrat Shah Poran (R.). Chinese traveler Hiuen Tsang wrote about this district in his travel story in 640 AD. It’s known from the inscription of Maharajah Sri Chandra on copper plate that he conquered this district in the tenth century. During the 14th century Hazrat Shah Jalal Yameni started to preach Islam in this district and conquered it by defeating king Gour Govinda in 1303 AD.
Administrative functions of this district commenced in 1772. East India Company appointed William Makepeace Thackeray as the first collector of this district. Subsequently Robert Lindsay joined as collector in 1778. During British reign, collector was the sole head of all departments of a district including legislature and judiciary. Administration of justice in district level was run over by him. After occupying state power, East India Company divided the distric judiciary into two folds, i.e. dewani and foujdari. The judge who would settle civil disputes was called ‘Dewan’ and the judge who would settle criminal disputes was called ‘Foujdar’. With the passage of time, civil court was established under the Bengal Regulation, 1793 (Regulation III of 1793). As per the provisions of the Bengal Civil Courts Act, 1871, the Courts of District Judge, Additional District Judge, Sub-Judge and Munsif were established for the first time. Then As per the provisions of Bengal Sessions Courts Act, 1871, the Courts of Sessions Judge and Additional Sessions Judge were established. Afterward, the court system gradually developed to present position by enactment of The Civil Court Act, 1887 & The Code of Criminal Procedure,1898.
It is not known exactly when the functions of this court started, but by analyzing the data kept in the record room of District Court, Sylhet, it appears that the functions of this court started from 1862 or earlier. After perusal of the records , it further appears that in 1862 there was one District and Sessions Judge Court, one Sub-Judge Court and one Munsif Court. One Additional Munsif Court was established here in 1930.
At present, Sylhet has one District and Sessions Judge Court and four Additional District and Sessions Judge Courts, four Joint District District and Sessions Judge Courts, One Land Survey Tribunal, four Senior Assistant Judge and eight Assistant Judge Courts. It's to be mentioned that Senior Assistant Judge Additional Court, Sadar, now functions as family court sylhet.
Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court was established in Sylhet in 2013. The Metropolitan Sessions Judiciary consists of one Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court, one Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge and two Joint Metropolitan Sessions Judge Courts.
Besides, there is 1 Divisional Special Judge Court, 1 Women and Child Abuse Prevention Tribunal, 1 Security Disruption Crime Prevention Tribunal, 1 Speedy Trial Tribunal, 1 Human Trafficking Crime Prevention Tribunal, 1 Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal, 1 There are Labor Courts and 1 Cyber Tribunal.
Since the separation of Judicial Magistracy from the Executive on 1st November, 2007 AD, the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Sylhet has been functioning and the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court started functioning on 1st September 2013. Presently Sylhet Judicial Magistrate has 1 Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, 1 Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, 1 Electricity Court and 9 Senior Judicial and Judicial Magistrate Courts. Among them, the Jokiganj Senior Judicial Magistrate Court is located in the upazila which was established as a residential magistrate court in 1947 in a house near the Jokiganj Police Station.
Apart from this, there is 1 Chief Metropolitan Court, 1 Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate and 3 Metropolitan Magistrate Courts for the metropolitan area.
Former President of Bangladesh A.F.M. Ahsan Uddin Chowdhury was District and Session Judge of Sylhet from 12-02-1965 AD to 01/11/1965 AD. Among the former honorable district and session judges of this court, Mr. Md. Iftekhar Rashul, Mr. M. A. Quddus, Mr. Mohammad Marziul Haque, Mr. Kamrul Islam Siddiqui, Mr. A.N.M. Bashir Ullah and recently Mr. Md. Bazlur Rahman have been elevated as Honorable Judges of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.
Compiled by: Nobonita Guha (Senior Assistant Judge), Muhammad Abbas Uddin (Senior Assistant Judge), Asma Jahan (Judicial Magistrate) and Md. Rubel Miah (Judicial Magistrate).