Bangladesh High Court on Monday asked the country’s leading micro-finance organization Grameen Bank’s founder and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus to surrender to a labour court by November 7 next.
Yunus had been facing charges after the firing of three employees from Grameen Communications which is a software company under the Grameen family of organizations.
The high court’s order came in response to a petition seeking a stay of an arrest warrant for Yunus issued by a labor court last month, when he was abroad.
The petition was filed by Yunus’s brother Mohammad Ibrahim.
Yunus’s lawyer Rokanuddin Mahmud said that the high court had asked the police not to harass the business tycoon prior to his surrender by November 7.
The three employees -Abdus Salam, Shah Alom and Imranul Haq-had filed cases against Yunus in July this year.
They had claimed that they were illegally sacked from their workplace as they had sought to form a trade union.
The labour court had issued a warrant to arrest Yunus as he had failed to appear for a hearing on the issue on October 9 this year.
Yunus was asked to appear for the hearing along with Grameen Communications managing director Naznin Sultana and deputy general manager Khandaker Abu Abedin.
Although the other two were present for the hearing on October 9, Yunus couldn’t turn up as he was abroad.
However, the arrest warrant was stayed till next month after Yunu’s brother had filed a petition on it.
Yunus and Grameen Bank were jointly honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
Grameen Bank was founded with an aim to provide loans to impoverished people to start a suitable means of livelihood.