A flawed law is easy to exploit

We share concerns raised by some experts about the recently passed Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act, 2023. At a roundtable discussion organised by the Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD) in collaboration with The Daily Star, they highlighted different aspects of the law to show how those were not aligned with the constitution. They also sought its cancellation or amendment in light of these issues.

For one, the speakers pointed out that land crimes or offences were not clearly defined in the law, which can lead to confusion and exploitations. They also said the law was a product of bureaucratic overreach, as evidenced by the provision that transfers the jurisdiction of restoring a person's possession of land from civil courts to the executive magistrates appointed by the government. By entrusting mobile courts and executive magistrates with almost all land-related cases, the law threatens to create anarchy in the administration of justice, as one expert said. The ALRD executive director also expressed concern about its possible impacts on the marginalised communities of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in terms of land ownership.

According to the land minister, this law was formulated after consulting all the relevant ministries and departments, as well as other stakeholders including those at the field level. If that was the case, why are there disparities and contradictions in it? When nearly 3.7 million cases involving land disputes, fraud and forgery remain pending at our courts (as of October 15, 2022), why didn't the relevant authorities do due diligence in ensuring a fool-proof law that aggrieved citizens could confidently use to seek justice?

When the provisions of a law are unclear or contradictory, they can be subjected to misinterpretation and misuse. For a long time, Bangladesh has needed a uniform law to empower the citizens so that they could seek justice in land-related cases, which, as of 2015, constituted 80 percent of criminal offences in the country. Now that we finally have one, the relevant authorities must make sure that it serves its intended purpose. To this end, we urge the government to listen to the experts and do whatever is necessary to plug all loopholes.