HC rules against all extra-judicial punishments

The High Court in a verdict on 8 July 2010 declared all kinds of extrajudicial punishment including those made in the name of fatwa in local arbitration illegal and without lawful authority. The court also directed the authorities concerned to take punitive action against the people involved in enforcing fatwa against women. Anyone involved or taking part in or assisting in any such conviction or execution would come under purview of the offences under the penal code and be subject to punishment, the court ordered.

The court observed infliction of brutal punishment including caning, whipping and beating in local salish [arbitration] by persons devoid of judicial authority constitutes violation of the constitutional rights and people’s rights to life and equal protection have to be treated in accordance with the law. The court said- as per the rules of the Constitution, the citizens will not be subject to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment.

The High Court bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore came up with the verdict in response to three separate writs. The petitions were filed by rights organisations — Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, BRAC Human Rights and Legal Services, and Nijera Kori, and four Supreme Court lawyers — Advocate Salahuddin Dolon, Barrister Mahbub Shafique, Advocate AKM Hafizul Alam and Barrister Imaran-ul Hye.

Barrister Sara Hossain, Advocate Salahuddin Dolon, Barrister Mahbub Shafique appeared for the petitioners and Deputy Attorney General Ekram Hossain Manju for the state.

Background: The writ petition was filed by the five organizations last year and the lawyers filed two separate writs this year, seeking necessary directives from the Court to stop extrajudicial punishment in the name of fatwa. The petitions were filed following several newspaper reports and investigations by the petitioners into violence inflicted on women in the name of fatwa by local religious leaders and powerful corners. It was alleged in the petitions that a number of deaths, suicides and incidents of grievous hurt of women were reported arising from punishment given in salish, but the law- enforcement agencies took no action to prevent those unlawful actions. The petitions referred to international obligations under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 1984 and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1979.

Earlier on August 25 last year, the High Court directed the secretary to Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, officials of the law-enforcement agencies and the chairmen of union parishads and municipalities to take immediate measures against extrajudicial penalties in salish. It also issued a rule asking them to show cause as to why their failure to prevent such illegal acts in compliance with their statutory obligations should not be declared illegal.