Staff Reporter :
‘Islam’ retains the status of State Religion, as the High Court has rejected a 1988 writ petition challenging the legality of a Constitutional provision in this regard. The bench of Justice Naima Haider, Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Ashraful Kamal passed the order on Monday.The HC bench in its order said that the petitioners have no jurisdiction to move such a petition, as they had filed the writ petition as an organisation not individually thus had no ‘locus standi’, a Latin term which meaning is ‘place for standing’.
The court observed that the ‘Swairachar O Samprodaiyikata Protirodh Committee’ (Autocrat and Communalism Prevention Committee)- had no legal basis, as it has no registration. The court earlier on March 1 asked the organisation to explain whether it had the right to challenge the legality of Article 2 (A) of the Constitution that declares ‘Islam’ as the State Religion.
Subrata Chowdhury and Zaglul Haider Afric stood for the petitioners while Additional Attorney General Murad Reza represented the state. Dr Kamal Hossain and senior other lawyers were also present at the hearing.
After the HC order, Subrata Chowdhury said that they were very disappointed at the rule. “We are saddened. We were not given chance to explain. We will appeal against the HC order,” he said.
Islam had been given the status of State Religion through the Constitution’s 8th Amendment during military ruler HM Ershad’s regime on June 9 in 1988.
After the passage of the Amendment Bill, fifteen citizens formed the organisation-‘Swairachar O Samprodaiyikata Protirodh Committee’-and had filed the writ petition on August 30 in 1988. They are- former Chief Justice Kamaluddin Hossain, Begum Sufia Kamal, Khan Sarwar Murshid, Prof Kabir Chowdhury, Prof Dr Mosharraf Hossain, Maj Gen (retd) CR Datta, journalist Foyez Ahmed, Dr Borhan Uddin Khan Jahangir, Badruddin Umar, Prof Anisuzzaman, Prof Serajul Islam Choudhury, Justice Debesh Chandra Bhattacharjee, Justice KM Sobhan, Syed Istiaq Ahmed and Kalim Sharafi. Ten of them have already passed away. Hearing the petition, the High Court issued a rule at that time.
On June 30 in 2011, Parliament passed a bill on the Constitution’s 15th Amendment retaining Islam’s status as a State Religion. The Amendment, however, restored ‘Secularism’ as one of the four fundamental principles of the state which had been omitted after the 1975 changeover.
Foyez Ahmed filed a supplementary petition against retaining Islam’s State Religion status. Following the petition, the High Court on December 1 in 2011 issued a rule asking the Government why the part of the 8th Amendment should not be declared illegal. It also invited 12 senior lawyers of the Supreme Court as amici curiae to seek their opinions on the issue.
The amici curiae were Dr Kamal Hossain, Justice TH Khan, Mahmudul Islam, M Amir-Ul Islam, Rafique-ul Huq, Dr M Zahir, Rokanunddin Mahmud, Ajmalul Hossain, Fida M Kamal, Yusuf Hossain Humayun, AFM Mejbahuddin and Abdul Matin Khasru. Later on, Dr M Zahir and Mahmudul Islam died. The government did not respond to the rule.
The issue was absent from discussion tables until August 1 last year when a Supreme Court lawyer Samendra Nath Goswami filed another petition with the High Court questioning how Islam could still be acknowledged as the state religion despite revival of ‘Secularism’ as the state policy under the 2011 Amendment to the Constitution.
Goswami had himself moved the petition which the bench of Justice Mohammad Emdadul Haque and Justice Muhammad Khurshid Alam Sarkar rejected outright on September 7 after a brief hearing. Chief Justice SK Sinha on February 29 this year formed the three-member bench to hear the 1988 petition following a prayer. The HC fixed March 27 for hearing the writ petition which was deferred to March 28 (Monday).
Jamaat-e-Islami called a countywide hartal for Monday to protest the legal move. Hefazat-e-Islam and other Islamic organisations also reacted to the move. Thousands of Muslims on Friday staged protests across the country.
