SC starts hearing fatwa appeal verdict after 9 years
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday started hearing a petition filed in 2001 seeking permission to appeal against a High Court verdict that had declared illegal fatwa (religious decrees).
The High Court bench of Justice Mohammad Gholam Rabbani and Justice Nazmun Ara Sultana on January 1, 2001 delivered the judgement saying that the ‘legal system of Bangladesh empowers only courts to decide all questions relating to the legal opinions on the Muslims and other laws as in force in Bangladesh.’
The court came up with the verdict after hearing a rule issued suo moto by another bench following a newspaper report of hilla marriage (in which the wife is married to another man and divorced to be given in marriage with her former husband).
Mufti Md Toyeeb and Maulana Abul Kalam later filed the petition with the Appellate Division seeking permission to appeal against the verdict.
As the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday, the court asked Mufti Toyeeb’s lawyer Mohammad Nazrul Islam to inform it of his points of arguments to be placed before the court.
In his statement, Nazrul told the court that his submission would include the definition and the source of fatwa, difference between fatwa and trial and use and misuse of fatwa.
He also said that the source of fatwa is Allah, and fatwa is mentioned in the Qur’an. Fatwa is part of the Qur’an and it cannot be banned on grounds of fatwa being abused, he argued.
Rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra’s counsel Kamal Hossain told the court that the country was being administered in accordance with the constitution and the court would have to look into the matter whether the constitution allows anybody to torture one in the name of fatwa. ‘Girls are being tortured in the name of fatwa,’ he added.
Citing a conflict in Pakistan between the Shias and the Sunnis over religious matters, Kamal said that it was not acceptable to get engaged in any conflict over religious matters.
On February 14, the Appellate Division appointed senior lawyers TH Khan, Rafique-ul Huq, M Zahir, ABM Nurul Islam, Mahmudul Islam, Rokanuddin Mahmud, Rabia Bhouyan, MI Farooqui and AF Hassan Ariff as amici curiae (friend of courts) for their opinion on the matter and deferred the hearing for two weeks.
The High Court verdict over the fatwa was stayed by the Appellate Division earlier after hearing a temporarily application filed by Mufti Md Toyeeb and Maulana Abul Kalam against the backdrop of killing seven people in violent clashes between the police and demonstrators, who took to the streets after the fatwa verdict.
On Tuesday, a large number of clerics were seen on the court premise to know of the update on the fatwa case.
Courtesy of New Age
