Abdul Latif Mirza v.

Government of Bangladesh
Abdul Latif Mirza v. Government of Bangladesh 31 DLR (AD)
33 is a case of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Abdul Latif Mirza v.
Bangladesh. The case concerns preventive detention. The court Government of
asserted the principles of natural justice. Bangladesh
Court Supreme Court of
Bangladesh
Contents Decided 1979

Facts
Judgement
Significance
See also
References

Facts
The appellant, Abdul Latif Mirza, was detained under the Special Powers Act, 1974 for a speech, which
the government said denounced "the fundamental principles of state policy" laid out in Part II of the
Constitution of Bangladesh. The detention continued for several years. The government said the appellant
was detained in order to prevent any attempt to capture state power through violent means.

Judgement
The Supreme Court held that the principles of natural justice are inherently universal. It further observed
that according to the third paragraph of the Preamble of the Constitution, the fundamental aim of the state is
a society in which the "rule of law, fundamental human rights and freedom, equality and justice, political,
economic and social shall be secured".[1]

The court held that ‘satisfaction’ of the detaining authority, as provided in section 3 of the Special Power
Act, 1974, was not sufficient. As that provision was controlled by Article 102 (2) (b) (i) of the Constitution,
the court must scrutinise the materials considered by the detaining authority for its ‘satisfaction’ and must
itself be satisfied that the detention was legal. The court also held that the grounds of detention must be
clear, unambiguous and must not be vague so that the detenu might be able to submit an effective
representation against his detention. If the grounds of detention are indefinite and vague, the detention, as a
whole, becomes illegal. Lastly, the court held that an illegal detention cannot be continued by a later valid
order.[2] The court stated that the basis for detention had to be objective, as quoted in the following.[3]

The Special Powers Act standing by itself emphasises that the opinion of the detaining
authority to act is purely subjectively, but the Constitution has given a mandate to the High
Court to satisfy itself, as a judicial authority, that the detention is a lawful detention
The court approved the concept of ‘due process’ given by Justice Hamdoor Rahman. The ‘due process’
concept in the American jurisdiction requires that the governmental actions as well as the laws made by the
legislature must not be arbitrary and must be reasonable and no man should be adversely dealt with without
giving him opportunity of being heard. Article 32 states that “no person shall be deprived of life or personal
liberty save in accordance with law.” That means, the reasonableness of law under Article 32 will be
strictly scrutinized when it relates to or deals with life or personal liberty. The rootless people cannot be
evicted from slums without any scheme of their rehabilitation as it is found in violation of Articles 31 and
32.[4]

Significance
The case is one of the leading cases of natural justice and preventive detention in Bangladeshi judicial
precedent.

See also
Aruna Sen v. Government of Bangladesh

References
1. http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com, Hafez Ahmed @. "Rethinking principles of natural
justice" (http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/old/more.php?news_id=133126&date=2012-
06-16). print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
2. http://www.lawcommissionbangladesh.org/reports/43.pdf
3. Imtiaz Omar (24 April 1996). Rights, Emergencies, and Judicial Review (https://books.googl
e.com/books?id=v_PIX6WBZgcC&pg=PA69). Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 69. ISBN 90-
411-0229-9.
4. "The Constitution of Bangladesh and rule of law : an overview" (http://bdlawdigest.org/the-co
nstitution-of-bangladesh-and-rule-of-law-an-overview.html). 22 June 2015. Retrieved 5 July
2017.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?

title=Abdul_Latif_Mirza_v._Government_of_Bangladesh&oldid=915794920"

This page was last edited on 15 September 2019, at 10:36 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.