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| Bangladesh |
| Fatwa illegal |
| 2010-07-09 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] The High Court in a verdict yesterday declared illegal and without lawful authority all kinds of extra-judicial punishment by local arbitration in the name of fatwa. The court directed the authorities concerned to take punitive action against the people involved in enforcing fatwa against women. Anyone involved, present, taking part or assisting any such conviction or execution would come under purview of the offences under the penal code and be subject to punishment, the court observed. It also 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. The court said the people's rights to life and equal protection have to be treated in accordance with the law. As per the rules of the Constitution, the citizens will not be subject to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment, the HC said. The HC 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. The rights organizations filed a writ last year and the lawyers filed two separate writs this year with the HC, 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. Such kinds of conviction and punishment do not have any legal basis, they said. The petitioners referred to international obligation 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 HC 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. Barrister Sara Hossain appeared for the petitioners. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 So when's the fatwa against this? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-07-09 14:42 |
| #1 Meanwhile, the ArchDruid of the Anglican church in Britain is ready to hand people over to local sharia courts. First RAB, now the High Court. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2010-07-09 14:39 |