High Court of Bangladesh questions Islam as state Religion

Thu, Jun 9th, 2011

High Court of Bangladesh appoints two more amici curiae

The High Court has picked two more amici curiae to advise the court during hearing on Islam as the state religion.

A bench of justices A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Gobinda Chandra Tagore on Thursday had appointed senior lawyers A F Hasan Arif and Akhtar Imam as amici curiae.

On Wednesday, the court had asked the government to explain why the insertion of Islam in the constitution as the state religion through the Eighth Amendment would not be declared illegal and unconstitutional.

It also appointed 12 lawyers as its amici curiae. They are T H Khan, Kamal Hossain, Amir-ul-Islam, Rafique-Ul Haque, Mahmududl Islam, M Zahir, Fida M Kamal, Rokanuddin Mahmud, Azmalul Hossain Q C, Yusuf Hossain Humayun, A F M Mesbahuddin and Abdul Matin Khasru.

Wed, Jun 8th, 2011

The High Court has asked the government to explain why the insertion of Islam as state religion in the constitution was not illegal and unconstitutional.

The bench of justices A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Gobinda Chandra Tagore on Wednesday also asked why the Eighth Amendment to the constitution, that made Islam the state religion of Bangladesh, should not be annulled.

The amendment made on June 9, 1988 during the tenure of military strongman H M Ershad inserted Article 2A in the constitution which gave Islam the status of state religion. The move touched off furore in

The final hearing on the petition will take place on June 16. Before that, the speaker of parliament and the law secretary have been asked to respond to the rule.

The rule came upon a writ petition filed in 1988 by 15 eminent persons.

They are former Supreme Court judge Kamal Uddin Hossain, National Professor Kabir Chowdhury, Prof Khan Sarwar Murshid, Prof Mosharraf Hossain, retired Maj Gen C R Duttta, Prof Serajul Islam Chowdhury, Badaruddin Umar, journalist and writer Faiz Ahmed, Borhan Uddin Khan Jahangir and Prof Anisuzaman.

Five of the petitioners have died: poet Begum Sufia Kamal, justice Devesh Chandra Bhattacharjee, justice K M Subhan, barrister Syed Istiaque Ahmed and Rabindra Sangeet exponent Kalim Sharafee.

Journalist Faiz Ahmed on Wednesday filed a supplementary affidavit on behalf of the petitioners who are alive.

The court also appointed nine lawyers as amici curiae or friends to the court for advice. They are T H Khan, Kamal Hossain, Rafique-Ul Haque, Amir-ul-Islam, Rokanuddin Mahmud, Yusuf Hossain Humayun, M Zahir, Mahmududl Islam, Fida M Kamal, A S M Mesbahuddin and Abdul Matin Khasru.

Lawyer Subrata Chowdhury argued for the petitioners at the hearing. He told reporters the High Court was decentralised and.Islam was made state religion through the Eighth Amendment on June 9, 1988.

"But the decision to decentralise the High Court was declared illegal on a writ petition filed at that time but the issue of state religion issue was left out. We hoped that a political government would decide on the matter. But no-one did it," said Subrata.

"The petitioners decided to move the writ petition on being aggrieved by the special parliamentary committee on constitution review suggesting retaining Islam as the state religion," he added.

source : bdnews24.com

ANNA HAZARE PROTESTS AGAINST RAMDEV CRACKDOWN

Civil rights activist Anna Hazare and his supporters, Wednesday, began a day-long hunger strike at Rajghat to protest the police crackdown on Baba Ramdev's supporters during their agitation against corruption here on Saturday night. After paying floral tributes at Mahatma Gandhi's samadhi, the Gandhian leader reached the protest site at around 10.20 am to a thunderous applause from around a thousand supporters who assembled there amid a large police presence. Hazare chanted "Vande Mataram", "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Inqilab Zindabad", prompting the crowd to echo him. Civil society activists like Shanti Bhushan, Kiran Bedi, Swami Agnivesh and Arvind Kejriwal joined the protest. Kejriwal said that except Justice Santosh Hegde, all civil society members of the Lokpal Bill drafting panel will join the fast, which has been organised to protest the midnight crackdown on Ramdev's supporters that injured over 60 people. With Delhi Police refusing permission for the day-long hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, Hazare had decided to shift the venue to Rajghat to avoid a confrontation. Bedi told the gathering that this is the "second war of independence against corruption, extortion and bribery." "I called Anna 'Gandhi' yesterday. It made some people very angry but large number of the people very happy. Why we have to sit here today? We didn't raise our voices against corruption earlier so we landed up here. We are not against politicians. We approached them, but they did not take up the struggle, so Anna had to take up the fight," she said. Earlier, before the protest started, Hazare said the government is trying to "scare" people off the protest. The organisers claimed action on Ramdev supporters has created a "fear psychosis" among the people. Asked whether he will seek security for himself, Hazare said he will never do so and he is not afraid of death. "Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev never asked for security. If they would have done, our country would not be free," he said. "The protest against injustice is not wrong. It leads to a successful democracy. If in such a situation you try to disrupt it, that's not right," he said. Large presence of police personnel somewhat dented the enthusiasm of the protestors. Heavy barricading and police deployment prompted some of them to discuss conspiracy theories about the government plotting to thwart their plans. Organisers claimed they got several calls from people asking whether police will take action. A senior police official said they have taken adequate security measures but did not "harass" anyone. People who came to Rajghat were outraged over the crackdown on the Ramdev congregation. "That action was shameful. One should protest. I have left my house and business to join this agitation. If you don't have other means to raise your voice, the only option left is to hit the streets," said B S Negi, a retired Assam Rifles personnel who came to Delhi on June 3 for the Ramdev protest. A number of supporters of Ramdev joined in the protest, including Swami Santoshanand, who shared dais with the yoga guru at Ramlila on June 4. Gandhi lookalikes, tricolour-waving youths and volunteers wearing Gandhi caps added colour to the agitation. Anti-corruption T-shirts worth Rs 150 recorded brisk sale. The protest will be accompanied by an all-religion prayer meeting and a debate on Lokpal Bill.