Justice Sinha, who has been in the US since November 2017, crossed over to Canada through Fort Erie on 4 July to seek asylum, The Daily Star newspaper of Bangladesh reported on Friday.
The daily quoted Justice Sinha as telling the Canadian online news portal The Star that because he was an “activist judge”, the establishment in Bangladesh was targeting him before he left for the US.
He said he had sought asylum in another country because he was now a “persona-non-grata” in his own country of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh’s High Commissioner to Canada Mizanur Rahman told the Canadian portal that Justice Sinha’s public statements about Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government were inaccurate and that he was only attempting to strengthen his claim for asylum.
In Bangladesh, Sinha and 10 other persons are facing charges of corruption, money laundering, and abuse of power.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in Bangladesh filed a case against them on 10 July. Justice Sinha has rejected the charges, The Daily Star reports.