Muslims offer Friday prayers in front of Baitul Mukarram, Bangladesh's national mosque, during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Dhaka July 11, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Biraj/Files
By: Serajul Quadir
Source: Reuters via MuslimVillage
DHAKA (Reuters) – Bangladesh’s High Court on Monday dismissed a case filed by a citizen’s group to drop Islam as the state religion, a lawyer said.
Bangladesh’s 1971 constitution declared all religions were equal in the eyes of the state. But military ruler Hussain Mohammad Ershad amended it in 1988 to make Islam the state religion.
Ershad’s action led a group of 12 citizens to file a writ with the High Court to overturn the amendment. But Shahriar Kabir, who convened the group, said the members decided not to go ahead with the case.
Twenty-eight years later, the same group filed a new writ which the court dismissed.
Subrata Chowdhury, the lawyer for the group, said the court did not even allow them a hearing. It did not give a reason for dismissing the case.
The government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has amended the constitution to reinstate the principle of secularism but also reaffirmed Islam as the state religion.
(Reporting by Serajul Quadir; Editing by Nick Macfie)
