Amendments to constitution shrunk people's rights

The amendments to the country's constitution have so far shrunk people's fundamental rights, eminent jurist Dr Shahdeen Malik said yesterday.

“Our amendments [of the constitution] took place without scrutiny and discussion. No one felt the need to informing people,” he said.

He was delivering a solo lecture on “The Culture of Amendments: (Contentious) Reflections” at the Supreme Court Bar Association auditorium in Dhaka.

Banglar Pathshala, a non-profit organisation, arranged the lecture as part of its regular activities. The lecture also marked the “Constitution Day”. The constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh was adopted on November 4, 1972.

So far, the country has seen 17 amendments of the constitution, said Shahdeen Malik, also a SC lawyer, in his written speech.

These amendments have touched, changed and sometimes reverted to the original texts in several instances, he said.

“The saddest aspect of all our amendments is that, none of the amendments have endowed us with any new or more expanded rights than those initially contained in part III of the constitution.”

On the parliament's role over the amendments, he said the treasury bench did the amendments “at its will” which came from the attitude “It's my power, I will apply it”.

He said if a party has two-third majority in parliament, it is all they need to amend the constitution within the shortest time.

The eminent jurist also said while amending the constitution, the primacy of the state was over its citizens.

Therefore, the state would strengthen the executive, even if it means people's rights are somewhat curtailed or the judiciary is somewhat weakened. “So we have gone on that path.”

“The other aspect is that subconsciously we have accepted the primacy of the state over citizen,” he added.

In 1972, people were principal and state was auxiliary, while at present the state is principal and people are auxiliary, he further said.

“…Instead of advancing towards constitutionalism, our constitutional journey of the last (nearly) five decades seems to have eroded the separation of powers and the inviolability of the fundamental rights, with which we initially began our journey.”

Chairing the programme, National Professor Anisuzzaman said the country's constitution was amended for “personal interests” and that due to those amendments the country deviated from “the natural law and justice” which was prevailing in 1972.

“People are owners of the country. People's supremacy has to be established. This is the constitution's inner essence.”