Bangladesh High Court : State religion Islam is not against the constitution, according to Bangladesh High Court – Bangladesh High Court has announced the direct dismissal of writ petition challenging the Islam state religion

The High Court has announced the direct dismissal of the writ petition challenging the state religion Islam almost 37 years ago. The High Court of Bangladesh dismissed the writ petition regarding the provision of Islam as the state religion and said that it is not against the constitution. According to the judgment of the High Court, the recognition of Islam as the state religion through the amendment of the Constitution is not in conflict with the Constitution. It does not hurt the basic structure of the state religion Islam constitution.Challenged writ
In 1988, the then President Hussain Muhammad Ershad added Islam as the state religion to the Constitution through the Eighth Amendment. Article 2A is added to the constitution and it is said that the state religion of the republic will be Islam. But other religions can also be practiced peacefully in the republic. Then 15 people filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging the validity of that provision on behalf of the Committee for Prevention of Dictatorship and Communalism.

Court verdict
A three-member special bench of the High Court headed by Justice Naima Haider dismissed the writ petition challenging the provisions of the state religion Islam. A copy of the 52-page judgment was released on Thursday after the judges who delivered the judgment signed it. It has also been published on the website of the Supreme Court.

Note that the High Court gave its ruling on June 8, 2011, 23 years after the writ petition was filed. On that day, the court announced the names of 14 senior lawyers as amicus curiae. Almost five years later, on March 8, 2016, the ruling came up for hearing. That day the court revoked the order appointing amicus curiae. The writ was dismissed on 28 March 2016.

Court observations
Two other judges of the bench, Kazi Reza-ul Haque and Mohammad Ashraful Kamal, agreed with Justice Naima Haider. According to the judgment, the recognition of Islam as the state religion by adding Article 2A through the said amendment is not in conflict with the Constitution. However, Justice Ashraful Kamal made separate observations in the judgment. According to the observation, Islam as the state religion inserted in Article 2(a) of the Constitution is not inconsistent with any other provision except the fundamental principles mentioned in the Preamble of the Constitution.

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Although Islam is given ‘state religion status’ in the constitution, there is no obligation to give political status to the state. A reading of Article 2(a) makes it clear that the inclusion of the concept of making Islam the state religion in no way undermines the constitutional rights of those belonging to different religions.

It also does not affect the basic structure of the Constitution and does not create redundancy in the Constitution. It says, ‘The state religion of the republic is Islam, but the state will ensure equality and equal rights in the observance of other religions including Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity.’