HC verdict on writ petition on nat'l mourning day today

The High Court is likely to deliver its judgement today on a writ petition challenging the legality of a government order cancelling the national mourning day and public holiday on August 15, the day Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family members was assassinated.
An HC bench of Justice Mohammad Abdur Rashid and Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam was scheduled to deliver the verdict on July 23, but one of the judges was on leave on the day due to his illness.
In a press release yesterday, Advocate Md Faridul Alam Talukder, a lawyer for the petitioners, said the HC would pronounce the judgment today.
On August 6 last year, an HC bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Farid Ahmed issued a rule asking the government to explain why August 15 should not be declared as the national mourning day and a public holiday and to show cause why the decision cancelling the national mourning day should not be declared illegal.
The rule came following a writ petition filed by Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Md Mozammel Haque and two others as public interest litigation (PIL).
On August 3 in 1996, then Awami League government issued an order declaring August 15 as the national mourning day. The day was also declared a public holiday.
But the BNP-led four-party alliance government issued an order on August 8 in 2002 cancelling the national mourning day.