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The High Court has questioned the legality of the provision for issuing death penalty without formulating any guideline.
The court issued a rule upon the bodies concerned of the government to explain as to why imposition of sentence of 'death penalty' without any guideline as a general course of punishment should not be declared illegal.
It also asked in the rule to explain as to why the respondents should not be directed to frame a guideline regarding application of discretion in awarding 'death penalty' to a convict.
The HC bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Atabullah issued the order after hearing a writ petition filed by Ishrat Hasan, a Supreme Court lawyer, seeking necessary directives regarding the matter.
The secretaries of the Law and Justice Division and the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division, and the Registrar General of the Supreme Court have been asked to comply with the rule.
Lawyer Ishrat Hasan herself appeared in support of his petition, while Deputy Attorney General Tushar Kanti Roy and Assistant Attorney General Md Selim Azad represented the state during hearing of the petition.
Ishrat Hasan filed the petition on December 7 last year challenging the legality of the provision for the death penalty in the country's criminal justice system.
The lawyer said the provision for the death sentence as the maximum punishment contradicts Articles 32 and 35(5) of the Constitution and relevant provisions of international treaties and conventions.
Article 32 of the Constitution says, "No person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty save in accordance with law." According to the Article 35(5), "No person shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment or treatment."
Ishrat Hasan said Bangladesh is a signatory to the international treaties and conventions, including the United Nations Human Rights Universal Declaration, 1848, which have discouraged the enforcement of death penalty as a punishment. More than 100 countries have already repealed this provision, she said.