JUDICIAL SYSTEM OF BANGLADESH

[Shamim Ansary]

The judicial system, modeled after the British system, is similar to that of neighboring countries. Besides the 1972 constitution, the fundamental law of the land, there are codes of civil and criminal laws. The civil law incorporates certain Islamic and Hindu religious principles relating to marriage, inheritance, and other social matters.

The constitution provides for an impartial and independent judiciary. After the 1982 coup, the constitution was suspended, martial law courts were established throughout the country, and Lieut. Gen Ershad assumed the power to appoint judges. The constitution was reinstated in November 1986.

The judicial system consists of a Low Court and a Supreme Court, both of which hear civil and criminal cases. The Low Court consists of administrative courts (magistrate courts) and session judges. The Supreme Court also has two divisions, a High Court which hears original cases and reviews decisions of the Low Court, and an Appellate Court which hears appeals from the High Court. The upper level courts have exercised independent judgment, recently ruling against the government on a number of occasions in criminal, civil and even political trials. The trials are public. There is a right to counsel and right to appeal. There is also a system of bail. An overwhelming backlog of cases remains the major problem of the court system.

The government, with the help of the World Bank, has undertaken an ambitious project to reform the judicial system. Changes include the creation of "Legal Aid Committees" to provide assistance to the poor, as well as the establishing of Metropolitan Courts of Sessions in Dhaka and Chittagong. In March 2001, the World Bank announced the approval of a US $30.6 million credit to assist Bangladesh in making its judicial system more efficient and accountable. A permanent Law Commission has been created to reform and update existing laws, and the government is committed to establishing a Human Rights Commission as well as an Office of the Ombudsman.

[S. HOSSAIN]

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[jafar_bre]

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The judicial system of Bangladesh comprises the Supreme Court, the subordinate courts and the tribunal courts. The judicial system is structured based upon the British judicial system.

The Supreme Court of Bangladesh
The Supreme Court Bangladesh in is classified in to two divisions, the High Court and the Appellate Court. The Appellate Court decides over appeals against the decisions taken by the High Court. The Appellate Court has supreme powers of drafting new amendments or additions in the law.
The High Court is given independent powers and jurisdiction by the Constitution of Bangladesh. Thus the High Court, though being the subdivision of Supreme Court, works completely in its own style and follows different laws than the Supreme Court. The High Court hears original legal matters as well as appeals against the subordinate court judgments.
The High Court has been assigned authority to control and administer all the lower Courts and tribunals.

The Subordinate Courts and Tribunals
The Subordinate Courts are the basic courts of the judicial system in Bangladesh. These subordinate courts can be classified broadly as 1) Criminal Courts and 2) Civil Courts.
These are further subdivided as:
1) Criminal Courts:

a) Sessions Courts
b) Metropolitan Session Courts
c) Special Criminal Courts
d) Metropolitan Magistrate Courts
e) Magistrate Courts
2) Civil Courts:

a) Assistant Judge Court
b) Senior assistant Judge Court
c) Joint District Judge Court
d) Additional District Judge Court
e) District Judge Court
f) Family Court
g) Money loan Court
h) Bankruptcy Court
Criminal courts deal with serious criminal offenses, some of which may even lead to a death sentence. The Session Courts have three layers of Judges: namely, Sessions Judges, Additional Session Judges, and Joint Session Judges.  The Session Judge and the Additional Session Judge have more powers than the Joint Session Judge. The Session Court Judges also hear civil matters.
The Metropolitan Session Court Judges only deliver judgments over criminal matters. Such courts also have a system for providing justice in lesser time as compared to the regular system, which may take ten or more years for resolving such criminal matters. The Metropolitan Session Courts of Bangladesh are located at Dhaka and Chittagong.
  The different types of tribunal courts in Bangladesh include but are not limited to: income tax, administrative, election, and public safety tribunals.

JAFAR IQBAL
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