His landmark judgments

Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman was a legendary person. In almost every sphere of knowledge he had an outstanding visit. Especially in the judiciary, he left his great contribution by giving landmark judgments for the nation.  He delivered his judgments under the Constitution and legal framework not according to anyone's personal choice. Some important judgments on rights of the citizens are cited here.

Judgments on right to life and personal liberty
He had given some important decisions on the matter to protect right to life and personal liability. In Md. Shameem v Bangladeh, 47 DLR; he delivered his judgment stating,
“It is a distinctive norm in our Court system that application for habeas corpus should get top priority over all other businesses and be expeditiously disposed of. It is no longer common to direct the body of the prisoner to be produced before the court, but the respondents having the custody of the prisoner must specify the causes of detention and discharge the burden of proof in lawful justification of the detention. The detaining authority making return to the rule is to place relevant facts before the court.”
Thus the right of the person in detained was given preference over other rights. Regarding the same, another cases Sajeda Parvin v State 40 DLR(AD); and Naser Kader Siddiqui v Bangladesh 44 DLR are also mentionable.
In Habiba Mahmud v Bangladesh, 45 DLR; He stated,
“The court is to hold the balance between the states's need to prevent prejudicial activities and citizen's right to enjoy his personal liberty.”

Judgments on freedom of association
On the above matter a landmark judgment was delivered in the case of Dr. Neelima Ibrahim v Bangladesh, 32 DLR; In this case besides establishing the right to association some other important principles were also established. As opining,
“an incumbent of an office for a fixed period of time can not hold on after the expiry of his term unless such action is either sanctioned or condoned by any law, or approved by the general constituents of an association.”
The principle of natural justice is also stated in this judgment.
“Principle audi alterem partem,unless expressly excluded by law or by the nature of the objects of any particular law , is to be implied to have been provided in every statute.”
In this judgment he also stated that a law should be interpreted in such a manner that it would rather be saved than destroy.
In Md. Asaduzzaman v Bangladesh, 42 DLR, popularly known as Famous Red Cross case he stated,
“The right under Article 38 implies that several individuals having a community of interest can join together to form a voluntary association for furtherance of a common lawful object. Article 38 can't be invoked for support, sustenance of fulfillment of every object of an association.”
Thus, by this judgment the right to freedom of association was established.

Freedom of expression
In the judgement of Bangladesh v Amiruzzaman Khan, BLR 1977 he stated,
''As the Court is for the welfare of the people, members of the public are entitled to make fair, reasonable or legislative or even out spoken comment on, or make fair dramatic representation of, court-affairs.''
Another case named Saleem Ullah v State, 44 DLR was also regarding the right to freedom as well as  freedom of press. This is also a landmark judgment for the establisment of the  right to freedom of expressin. where he stated,

“Freedom of press is recognised in our constitution. A Court is to suffer criticism made against it. Only in exceptional cases of bad faith or ill motive it will resort to law of
contempt.”

In the judgment he also given a suggestion to the Parliament for updating the law of Contempt of Courts. As he said,
“Our Parliament may consider  updating the law of Contempt of Courts in the light of our Constitution,recent changes in media communication, and practice in comparable jurisdicitions in other countries.”

Freedom of trade and business
He has also delivered a judgment of the case named B.S.A. Association v Bangladesh, 1 BCR 1981. In which he mentioned about the right to trade and business also the constitutional obligationas. he also talked about the power of  the Government in permiting the business in Bangladesh.

Right to equality
In the judgement of Md. M. Rahman v Water Board 1 BCR 1981, Justice Habibur Rahman stated that,
“Once the direct recruits are promotes are absorbed in one cadre, they form one class and there will be no classification for the purpose of promotion to the higher grades.”
In Sheikh Abdus Sabur v  Returning Officer 41 DLR , He states,
“A member of the parliament is not answerable to the Court for his legislative functions. He is only answerable to his electors.”

Citizenship rights
In Bangladesh v Prof. Golam Azam, 46 DLR , Justice Habibur Rahman has given a milestone judgement in the history of the Judiciary of Bangladesh about the citizenship right. In the Judgment, it was stated,

“the citizenship, though not mentioned as a fundamental right in our constitution, is to be considered as the right of all rights as on it depends one's right to fundamental rights expressly provided for a citizenship in Part III of the Constitution and his right to seek Court's protection of those rights.”

Right to fair hearing and principle of natural justice
In M. A. Rashid v Govt. of Bangladesh, 30DLR, He opined,
“The principle of natural justice that no one should be condemned unheard have been firmly rooted in our judicial system.”
Thus the principle of Natural Justice has been well founded in our judiciary.
He had also given a landmark judgment on the constitutional matter like in Anwar Hossain Chowdhury v  Bangladesh, 41 DLR. The Judgment was about the legality of the famous 8th Amendment of the constitution of Bangladesh. In this case, the foundation of basic structure was well-established in the legal sphere of Bangladesh. The Supremacy of the constitution was upheld. It was also established that the parliament can't do anything at its whim. It can never change or destroy the basic structure of the constitution on which the constitution is standing.
Finally it can be said that Justice Habibur Rahman has given many landmark judgments on different important issues. Of them, the prevalent practice of habeas corpus petitions and the court's obligation to protect and uphold a citizen's rights to life and personal liberty, citizenship of Bangladesh, rights to equality , freedom of association, freedom of expression, freedom of trade and business, the doctrine of Basic structure of the constitution can be largely mentionable. For these famous and legally important judgments he has greatly contributed to our judiciary, citizens as well as the nation.We are really indebted to this 'Legend of Law'.

The writer is Research Assistant at Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA).