March 7 speech in constitution: HC wants to know if there are errors

The High Court today directed the government to find out if there are any errors in the version of March 7 speech of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman printed in the constitution.

It asked the government to form a high-powered committee to examine the audio and video of Bangabandhu's speech at the Suhrawardy Udyan (formerly known as Ramna Race Course ground) on March 7, 1971. The committee has been asked to give a report on this in six days.

The High Court bench of Justice Tariq ul Hakim and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir came up with the order following a writ petition filed by one Kashed Ali.

Ali, a resident of Rajbari's Raynagar village, filed the petition on March 6 this year claiming there were errors in the speech printed in the constitution.

Kashed Ali found over 50 mistakes and distortions in the speech published in the constitution, the petitioner's counsel Advocate Subir Nandi Das told The Daily Star.

Citing an example, he said "In his speech, Bangabandhu said 'Ebarer sangram amader muktir sangram, ebarer sangram swadhinatar sangram [This struggle is for emancipation, this struggle is for independence]' twice but in the constitution, it was only mentioned once."

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam and Deputy Attorney General Amit Dasgupta represented the state during hearing of the petition.