Judge shortage deepens case backlog in Lalmonirhat

A chronic shortage of judges and the absence of a dedicated courthouse are compounding delays at Lalmonirhat's Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, where six of nine judicial posts sit vacant against a backlog of 11,547 pending cases, forcing litigants to travel long distances repeatedly only to be sent home with fresh hearing dates.

Court records show Lalmonirhat district saw 31,649 criminal and civil cases filed as of June 2026, with the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court alone handling 11,547 cases across nine courtrooms despite functioning with just three judges—one additional chief judicial magistrate and two senior judicial magistrates--while three sanctioned judicial magistrate posts remain entirely unfilled. Litigants describe the toll vividly: Nur Hossain, from Kaliganj upazila, said he travels 40 kilometres for hearings on a land dispute that repeatedly fail to proceed for lack of available judges, while Adam Ali, from Patgram's Burimari union, must catch a dawn train to cover the 95-kilometre distance to court, only to face months of further delay whenever a scheduled hearing is postponed.

Lawyers point to a deeper infrastructural failure compounding the judge shortage: despite the judiciary's separation from the executive in 2007, Lalmonirhat still lacks a dedicated Chief Judicial Magistrate Court building, forcing proceedings into cramped rooms with no seating for lawyers or their assistants, no safe space for women, and defendants in unrelated cases sometimes held together in the dock or made to stand outside it when numbers exceed capacity, according to district bar association members Hafizur Rahman and Saikat Ahmed. Bar association general secretary Rafiqul Islam argued that constructing a proper courthouse alongside appointing additional judges would allow the backlog to be cleared significantly faster.

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While the Lalmonirhat judicial website has recently listed some judge transfers and postings, lawyers caution that without swiftly filling the vacant posts, the situation is unlikely to improve meaningfully. Amirul Hayat Mukul, president of the citizens' group Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (SUJON) in Lalmonirhat, called for urgent judicial appointments, a separate modern courthouse, and broader infrastructure investment, warning that failure to act would allow the case backlog and delays in justice to worsen further.