A life lived on the legal landscape

The book is dedicated to the late Mirza Ghulam Hafiz, who inspired the writer into joining the legal profession. The contents of the book include an introduction and nine chapters, references and index.
A quotation by Alexander Herzen has been added: 'The world will not know liberty until all that is religious and political is transformed into something simple and human.' The book is a sincere gesture towards this objective. The subject matter of legal issues and judicial framework has been made friendly and simple for the easy-going reader.
The rather poetic title of the book is commendable, a truthful narration on the writer's four decades of judicial life. It is a memoir of the retired Justice M. Ghulam Rabbani who realizes that he is unable to recall all that he has lived through during the professional period of his life; so some of the names have had to be replaced by fictional names, some small details dressed up, maybe. The experience of reflection and remembering is like a linear watermark, a waterline perhaps, and yet not quite the same, for life's alignment disappears before it has even appeared!
It was in Rajshahi in December 1960 that the writer joined the legal profession. Nine years later he joined the High Court in Dhaka. In 1971 he was an advocate in the Pakistan Supreme Court and in 1986 he became a senior advocate in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in Dhaka. Six years later in 1992 he became a justice in the High Court Division and in 2002 he retired from service.
As a young lawyer beginning his career in the district court in Rajshahi, Rabbani found that the zamindari system had already been abolished. The land records were being recast. There were many errors in the various land plots and the corresponding khatian numbers. The correction of these records led to many court cases. These were: the case of Kalu Sheikh, a poor peasant, civil case of Isrial Mondol and others. Rabbani was the lawyer of the criminal case relating to Kalim who got back his land under the Criminal Procedure Code, section 342. When his land was being occupied by the lathials, hired by his opponents, Kalim having no other option, had opened fire causing death to one of the lathials; the others ran away. On the basis of this incident a case was filed in the district sessions court. Kalim was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment.
With respect to criminal cases, Rabbani in principle would accept only such cases which upon a reading of the brief of the case indicated an infringement of legal provisions and therefore had scope to prove the defendant innocent.
Published in Legal Decision vol.15, p.34 and Dhaka Law Report vol.47, p. 54 are the proceedings of the case of Hefzur Rahman vs. Shamsun Nahar The subject matter of the case was dowry and maintenance. Justice Rabbani's judgment in the case was quoted in a similar case before the Lahore High Court. It also found place in the organizational publication, Women Living under the Muslim Laws, with head office in Paris. The judgment was esteemed highly as being clear in direction, more than the judgment in the Shah Bano case in the Supreme Court of India. It was also highlighted in The Statesman of India.
This judgment was rejected by the Appellate Division, Dhaka. However during the hearing of the case, Rabbani made an in-depth analysis of the term mataun, the only meaning of which is financial maintenance and nothing else. The write up on the subject was also published in The Daily Star. There was also some criticism of this explanation of the subject. Later on, in the University Press Limited publication Journey within Islam, the argument on mataun was included under chapter 7.
In 1992 as Justice Rabbani exercised the right of ijthihad, the method of deducing new laws in light of Quranic principles and prophetic traditions, recognized as one of the sources of law in Islam in one of the judgments published in Bangladesh Legal Decision vol.17 p, 57.
Based on this judgment the prevailing law on will was abolished. The judge gave examples from Surah Baqarah vv.180-182 further in his judgments on cases concerning Romena Afrin vs. Ashrafuddin, Jasmin Sultana vs. Mohammad Illias and Noor Akhtar vs. Abdul Mahbud Chowdhury. The authenticity of fiqh in Islamic Family Law was discussed and examined and the details published in Bangladesh Legal Decision vol.16 p.487, vol.17 p.4 and vol.16 p.396.
In the Supreme Court, Rabbani recommended amendments and enactment of the Penal Code. With reference to a suicide case within Penal Code section 309 and 306 it was pointed out that the law did not provide protection to women against domestic violence. The case is mentioned in Bangladesh Legal Decision vol.16, p.525-533.
As a judge on the criminal bench of the High Court Division dealing with a case on anticipatory bail, Rabbani noted three criteria on the subject. These are:
- Whether there is a possibility for the applicant to be arrested.
-Whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that the applicant is guilty.
-Whether the applicant bears any possibility of being involved with the incident or occurrence.
Reference was also made to the judgment on the subject published in Calcutta Weekly Notes vol.10, p.1093.These were published in Bangladesh Legal Decision vol.18, p.680
Chapter nine is on the sad incident involving two staff members belonging to the Appellate Division and the Supreme Court Staff Association. The proceedings of the two cases were reasonable. Even so, justice was not done to the aggrieved.

Farida Shaikh is a reviewer and member of The Reading Circle.

(Correction: In the review 'A lock of hair and a brittle cup', published on November 29, the name 'Sudhin Das' was printed in place of 'Sudhin Dutta'. The error is deeply regretted).