Dhaka: Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Wednesday alleged that Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has been forced to refrain from performing his duty in the name of his illness.

Speaking at a press conference, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also urged the Chief Justice office to give an explanation about his leave and illness.

"When the president and the secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association went to the Chief Justice's residence on Monday, an on-duty police officer there told them he is fine but unable to talk to them. Different information also surfaced in different media and social media which exposed that the Chief Justice is not sick. He has been forced to abstain from discharging his duty," Fakhrul said.

The BNP leader alleged that such 'vindictive' attitude of the government towards the Chief Justice has manifested that it has got desperate in fear of protecting its existence.

He strongly condemned and protested such 'vindictive and hatred' attitudes of the government towards the apex court. "We call upon the country's people to get united and raise their voice together against the government's evil move to make the judiciary subservient by snatching the independence of the judiciary."

BNP arranged the press conference at its Nayapaltan central office to give the party's formal reaction to the Chief Justice's one month 'sudden' leave.

Earlier on Tuesday night, Senior BNP leaders and pro-BNP lawyers had a marathon meeting on the issue at the BNP chairperson's office.

On Monday, Law Minister Anisul Huq said Sinha went on a one-month leave on health grounds.

Later, President Abdul Hamid made Justice Md Abdul Wahhab Miah, the senior-most judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, the acting Chief Justice as Sinha went on leave.

Fakhrul said so far there has been no version from the Chief Justice's office on Sinha's illness and his present condition. "The country's people and we want the Chief Justice's office to inform about his stance and the present condition."

He said the ministers and the ruling party leaders launched a verbal attack on Sinha after the 16th amendment verdict. "They warned him of dire consequences, and asked him to go on leave and even to step down. So, it's now clear to the nation that they forced him (Sinha) to go on leave."

The BNP leader said the government has set a 'bad' example by forcing the Chief Justice to go on leave instead of following the constitutional process of seeking a review of the 16th amendment verdict of the Supreme Court.

"Judiciary, the last resort of people to get justice, has now been subjected to an attack by the current autocratic regime as part of its evil efforts to reestablish one-party Baksal role," he observed.

Voicing doubt about the Law Minister's assertion that Sinha has been suffering from cancer, Fakhrul said the Chief Justice recently visited Japan a and Canada, but there is no information that he received treatment in the two developed courtiers for such a disease.

Even, he said Sinha joined office on Monday and took some important decisions and some files.

BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said the way the Chief Justice was sent to leave is an onslaught on the judiciary. "We think it's a conspiracy to destroy the judiciary. As a major political party, we're deeply worried over the matter."

He alleged that the government is trying to make the country a failed state only to protect its own interest by destroying all the constitutional bodies.

BNP standing committee members Nazrul Islam Khan, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, chairperson's adviser Abdus Salam and senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi were, among others, present.