Photo : Messenger
Two incidents occurred in the last week of April, although neither was widely discussed. Dhallywood hero Shakib Khan's third marriage is much discussed.
The first of the two incidents is the High Court's ruling on state religion. Another is the arrest of Sanjay Rakshit, a small trader in Shariatpur, on charges of blasphemy for circulating two lines of Lalan's song on social media. Apparently the two events are not related to each other in any way.
Two lines from Lalan Sai's famous and popular song Sab Loke Kay Lalan Ki Jaat Sansare, "Sunnat Dile Hayi Musalman Nari Loka Ki Hayi Vidhan" in Facebook stories, some local people have claimed hurt the sentiments of Muslims. They made a verbal complaint about the matter. Therefore, to avoid social disorder, the police said that Sanjay was arrested and sent to Shariatpur District Jail. If and later he got bail from the court by giving surety.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Shakib Hossain of Shariatpur's Vedarganj Amli Court granted his bail on Monday (April 29) afternoon. I learned from the news, the police said
Sanjay Rakshit, son of Hari Narayan Rakshit of Mahishar Union of Vedarganj Upazila of Shariatpur, was arrested by the Vedarganj police station on Sunday due to his Facebook story status. Sanjay is a goldsmith by profession. He was arrested under Section 54 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Later he signed an undertaking that in future he would not do anything that would cause social unrest.
On April 25, the police arrested a biology teacher of a college in Mymensingh named Sunil Chandra Ghosh on charges of insulting religion to avoid similar social chaos. Shambhuganj Baitul Aman Jame Mosque Imam Md. Qayyum became the plaintiff and filed the case at Kotwali Model Police Station. Later, the DB police raided and arrested Sunil Chandra Ghosh in that case. This man is still in jail.
Defamation of religion and injury to religious sentiments are punishable offenses under the existing criminal law Sections 295 to 298 of the Bangladesh Penal Code provide for the offenses and punishments in this regard. These crimes in bold are:
295 – Damage or desecration of upasanalai with intent to show contempt for any or any particular religion.
295 (a) – Deliberate act of malice intended to cause serious injury to any religious sentiment by insulting any or any particular religion or religious belief.
296 – Creating noise in religious gatherings
297 – Unauthorized entry into cemeteries etc
298 – Uttering words or gestures intended to hurt religious feelings
Apart from this, hurting religious sentiments in electronic format is a punishable offense under the Information Technology Act This Act provides for 10 years imprisonment and a fine not exceeding one crore rupees if the offense is proved If all these crimes are proved, there is a maximum punishment of two years However, the Act does not provide protection for any particular religion or any single religion.
Another term social disorder has been added.
I came to know through newspaper on the same day About 37 years ago in 1988, the High Court announced the direct rejection of the writ petition challenging the state religion of Islam. In the observation of the judgment, the High Court said that the recognition of Islam as the state religion through the amendment of the Constitution is not in conflict with the Constitution. Islam as a state religion does not violate the basic structure of the constitution.
In the principles of governance of the state, the constitution states, the implementation of the principle of secularism and freedom of religion (a) all forms of communalism, (b) giving political status to any religion by the state, (c) abuse of religion for political purposes, (d) discrimination against a person practicing a particular religion. or oppression on him, shall be abolished.
Again, the preamble of the constitution states, "We pledge that the great ideals which motivated our brave people to sacrifice themselves in the national liberation struggle and sacrifice their lives as brave martyrs - nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism shall be the basic principles of this constitution."
Whether this comment is in conflict with the constitution or not, those who are experts in the constitution can say it well. From what I understand as a layman, in simple logic, if the Fifth Amendment invalidates everything before it, what is the rationale for discussing this single issue separately, the Declaration of State Religion? In that judgment, the issue of state religion automatically becomes illegal.
In the 1972 constitution of Bangladesh, 'Bismillahir-Rahmanir Rahim' and the state religion of Islam were not two subjects. In 1979, Bismillahir-Rahmanir Rahim was added to the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution during Ziaur Rahman's regime. And in 1988, during the former army ruler HM Ershad, the state religion Islam was included in the eighth amendment of the constitution.
But after the cancellation of the fifth amendment of the constitution, it was said to return to the original constitution of 1972. In June 2011, the Awami League government, through the fifteenth amendment of the constitution, aimed to return to the 1972 constitution, along with abolishing the caretaker government system, introduced the maximum penalty for sedition as a crime for unconstitutional seizure of power. Through this amendment, the four principles of the Constitution of 72 Nationalism, Socialism, Democracy and Secularism were brought back. The Declaration of Independence of Bangladesh was included in the constitution through this amendment But Bismillahir-Rahmani Rahim and the state religion remain Islam And the interesting thing is that at that time, the High Court had dismissed the petition granting leave to appeal against the High Court's judgment declaring the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution invalid.
The petition was filed by the then main opposition party BNP seeking permission to appeal against the High Court's verdict. Again, when Ershad declared Islam as the state religion, it was opposed by Awami League, BNP and even Jamaat Islam. A three-judge bench agreed with the decision to dismiss the writ.
The observation written by the bench's senior justice Naima Haider said that Islam as the state religion enshrined in Article 2(a) of the Constitution is not inconsistent with any other provision, not only the fundamental principles mentioned in the preamble of the Constitution. Although Islam is given 'state religion status' in the constitution, there is no obligation to give political status to the state. Article 2(a) must be read as a whole and it is clear that the inclusion of the concept of making Islam the state religion in no way undermines the constitutional rights of people of different faiths. It also does not affect the basic structure of the Constitution and does not create redundancy in the Constitution.
The impugned amendment also does not affect the concept of state religion as inserted in the Constitution, the judgment said. Therefore, we hold that recognition of Islam as the state religion by inserting Article 2(a) through the impugned amendment is not unconstitutional. In an attempt to simplify the matter, we have discussed the reasoning presented in our judgment.
However, the junior judge of the bench gave a separate observation in the judgment. Ashraful Kamal He said, like the Fifth Amendment, the main purpose of the Seventh Amendment was to legitimize military rule and to protect those establishing military rule from charges of treason. Where is the interest of the country or people in this amendment?
"Military dictatorship by definition has no regard for religion, principles and ideals. But they declared Islam as the state religion through the Eighth Amendment. There was no religious crisis in the country, nor was there any constitutional crisis. Moreover, no demand has been raised by the public in this regard. All that the dictators of the eighties did, except declaring the state religion, was irreligiousness, injustice, unscrupulousness, fraud, looting and rampant corruption. Terrorism and misrule together create a situation from which people of all classes and professions of this country have struggled, sacrificed and sacrificed themselves for the end of this dictatorship for 9 long years to get rid of it.
Again, there was no participation of judges of different religions or communities in this bench of the High Court. Then there was an opportunity to widely discuss or observe the internal or psychological issues of how the state religion identifies the religious people in the past life system.
This constitutional recognition of the state religion is actually a tiger in paper and its power is huge, it strengthens people mentally.
Two Reasons for Discussing In recent years we have seen the persecution of religious minorities in Bangladesh on charges of blasphemy emerge as an additional man-made disaster. From Ramu, Nasirnagar to Noagao in Shalla or Teacher Hridiya Mandal are numerous examples. Apart from the religious reasons behind it, political revenge, land grabbing, conversion of women are mostly working in the background. Now the measuring instrument to determine the scale of that religious feeling or social disorder has not yet been invented.
Lalon song or Baul Karim's song tomorrow, if any artist sings "Tantra mantra and you are not inside it, I read the scriptures the more I move away" or drunken Razzak Dewan's song, "Masjid gharha hai na Ore Maulana" there are thousands of songs and poems scattered on the country's roads. , in the name of social chaos, one by one, these bowl songs, mudi songs will be choked one day.
In the name of religion, in the name of the constitution, under the influence of the majority, these will be forced to stop. The Constitution would have been there at least as a safeguard. But after the court verdict, that way was also closed.
I visited Bangladesh during the period of harmony, the state development or people's financial capacity has improved significantly. There is no room for disagreement on this matter. But then, too, a kind of emigration is at work in the people. People seem to be fleeing the country leaving their government jobs. The trend is even greater among minority communities. Now not in India, those who have the financial means now want to send their children to Europe and America for a secure future. It is possible anyway. I have spoken to many. I tried to understand their mindset. I want to understand that if everyone leaves the country in this way, then after 50 years there will be no people of different religions except Islam in this country. It is a kind of escape without any kind of torture.
Everyone has different opinions, but at the end of the day what stands out is fear. This is a fear of what happens when, if a boy or girl writes something, or when, where, if they get trapped in a plot and somehow. The second fear is that communal extremism is increasing day by day. Assuming that we are safe as long as Sheikh Hasina is there, what will happen next? They want to send Europe to America so that we will spend our lives or not, so that the next generation can live well.
The heat of state religion and a kind of influence of the 90% majority, felt everywhere in the society. I really had no answer to this.
I wonder what would have happened if Nazrul had lived, what would have happened if Lalan had lived, what would have happened if Baul Karim had lived.
Nazrul used to write "say Bir -
Space Outpost of the Force Universe'
Moon, Sun, Planets, Stars
Bhulok Dhulok Gholak Vedia
God's Seat 'Arsh' Chedia,
Ever-surprised I'm the God of the universe!
What would have happened to the crime of crossing the throne, what would have happened again when he wrote in the last part of this poem.
I, rebel Bhrigu, mark the footprints on the Lord's chest,
I'm the Creator-Sudan, grief-heat, I'll fight arbitrary rules!
I rebel Bhrigu, God will draw footprints on the chest!
I'll break the rules!
Would you have the courage to draw footprints on God's chest? In my mind I heard the melody of Sadhak Ukil Munsi's song "I was wondering oh Sujan Naiya will be able to spend the day in this color".
The writer is Editor of bricklane news, UK
Messenger/Fameema
