LAW | The Daily Star

  • New low in the dispensation of justice?

    The process of the dispensation of justice has suffered a new hit in Bangladesh. Across the country, citizens are dismayed at what appeared to be a blatant violation of independence of the judiciary.

  • Extrajudicial execution has no place in democracy

    When ordinary people whose life is mostly dictated by the day-to-day compulsions speak in desperate terms, they can be excused.

  • The colonial legacy of rape laws

    Rape continues to be one of the most prevalent forms of violence against women in the world and Bangladesh is sadly no exception.

  • Every Life Matters

    No man is above the law and no man is below it: nor do we ask any man’s permission when we ask him to obey it.” — Theodore Roosevelt

  • Is RTI Act becoming popular in Bangladesh?

    You are really doing a great job,” said the Designated Officer (DO) of the District Social Welfare Office of Dinajpur. He was talking to a member of the public who had gone to his office to submit a Right to Information (RTI) request.

  • Sometimes village courts can do the job

    Mritul Begum, 30, lives in Kendua, Madaripur. Her husband Ruhul Molla, 42, works as a day-labourer and earns a meagre Tk 5,000 a month. It is difficult to make ends meet so Mritul has invested in some cattle and poultry for some extra earnings.

  • International Green Court: A solution to achieving climate justice?

    WE’RE running out of time on climate change. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report released in October 2018, revealed that there are only a dozen years left for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

  • Extrajudicial killing is no answer

    A country’s justice system has the responsibility to lawfully try any person accused of a crime, not the law enforcement.

  • When the allegation is of ‘death threat’ but the investigation is on ‘corruption’

    The controversies revolving around Mizanur Rahman, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Moazzem Hossain, former OC, Sonagazi Police Station, and Khandaker Enamul Basir, Director, ACC, came to the spotlight in close succession.

  • Caring for ageing parents: Is law the only solution?

    The Maintenance of Parents Act 2013 has made it a punishable offence for the children to fail to fulfil certain duties and responsibilities towards their parents as described in the Act.

  • Combatting bank loan defaults through Right to Information

    Bank loan defaults and their harmful impacts on the economy are not matters of public concern in Bangladesh alone. It has agitated the public mind in neighbouring India for a long time. A recent directive of the Supreme Court of India has some lessons for Bangladesh.

  • Sexist laws that require change

    Reports from legal aid and human rights organisation, Ain O Salish Kendra stated that at least 189 women were raped across the country in the first six months of this year, and 47 children were subjected to sexual assault or harassment in 15 days before April 2. Despite the pervasiveness of rape culture, conviction rates have ironically dropped from 0.5 percent in 2016 to 0.3 percent in 2018, according to the recent study by Naripokkho, a women’s rights organisation. The necessity for amendments in rape law becomes larger by the day, but a concerted action from the government remains surreptitiously missing.

  • Can judicial decentralisation become a reality in Bangladesh?

    The Supreme Court of Bangladesh is the highest court of law in the country consisting of two divisions, the High Court (HC) Division and the Appellate Division.

  • The Clean Air Act should be passed without further delay

    Dhaka has been ranked as the second most polluted capital city in the world in the 2018 World Air Quality Report released by

  • What does the law say about disclosing identity of victims?

    The Feni madrasa student murder case has left us shaken to the core. People from all over the country are demanding that the culprits be brought to justice at the earliest.

  • A tale of two women

    IT was an evening in May 1989. Kiranjit Ahluwalia, an Indian woman living in a small town in England, served her husband his dinner.

  • State liability to pay compensation for rape: A necessary ruling

    On March 10, 2019, the High Court issued a rule demanding the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and other concerned authorities to explain why they should not be ordered to pay compensation of Tk 50 lakhs to a young woman who had been raped by two police officers in Manikganj earlier in February.

  • Sultan Mansur

    The unique case of Sultan Mansur's parliamentary membership

    Amidst much confusion as to whether Gonoforum-elect MPs would join sessions of the 11th parliament, Mr Sultan Mansur, the elected MP from Moulvibazar-2 constituency under Gonoforum's banner, finally took his oath as a member of parliament on March 7, 2019.

  • Government's 'zero-tolerance policy' against corruption

    In her first address to the nation after being sworn in for her third consecutive term last month, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced “zero tolerance for corruption” as a key policy of her new government. This was followed by the release of Transparency

  • Progress and regress of RTI in Bangladesh

    As the Right to Information (RTI) regime nears completion of its first decade of existence, we asked a few scholars, advocates and users of the law for their views on its progress so far. Results were mixed.

  • The problem with the Road Transport Act

    Much controversy surrounds the new Road Transport Act 2018 which has been the subject of massive protests by road transport workers who perceive the new law to be unduly harsh on them.

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