Calling a strike against a court judgment or order is illegal: High Court
The High Court has ruled that calling a strike or hartal in protest against a court judgment or order is illegal. It has also directed that legal action be taken against bus owners’ associations and workers’ organisations if they call such a strike or hartal.
The High Court bench comprising Justice Shashanka Shekhar Sarkar and Justice Faisal Hasan Arif delivered the judgment on Sunday after concluding the final hearing of a writ petition.
The judgment was delivered following the final hearing of a writ petition filed in the wake of a transport workers’ strike called after a trial court verdict in a case concerning the deaths of five people, including filmmaker Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier, the then chief executive officer of ATN News, in a road accident.
Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), a human rights and environmental organisation, filed the writ petition in the public interest in 2017.
Senior lawyer Manzil Morshed, who represented the petitioner, told Prothom Alo about Sunday’s judgment that the court had directed the Home Secretary, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) to take legal and criminal action if any strike or hartal was called against a court judgment or order.
The court observed in its judgment that, under Article 112 of the Constitution, court judgments are binding on everyone. Although there is a provision for appealing against a judgment, calling a hartal or strike in protest against it is illegal and unconstitutional, the court said.
On 13 August 2011, Tareque Masud, Mishuk Munier and three others were killed at the scene of a devastating road accident in Manikganj’s Shibaloy upazila while returning to Dhaka in a microbus after visiting a location where Tareque Masud’s new film was scheduled to be shot.
The Additional Sessions Judge’s Court in Manikganj delivered its verdict in the case on 22 February 2017. The court sentenced bus driver Jamir Hossain to life imprisonment.
Following the verdict, transport workers in the district called a transport strike. After reports about the strike appeared in the media, HRPB filed the writ petition. Following the initial hearing, the High Court issued a rule on 1 March 2017.
According to the petitioner, the rule sought to establish why calling a strike or hartal against a court judgment should not be declared unlawful. In an interim order, the court directed that the strike or hartal be withdrawn within 24 hours. It also ordered that arrangements be made to ensure the movement of vehicles.
Following the court’s directive, the transport strike was withdrawn the following day. After the final hearing of the writ petition, the court made the rule absolute and delivered its judgment on Sunday.
Senior lawyer Manzil Morshed appeared for the petitioner at the hearing, assisted by lawyers Sanjoy Mondal and Ripon Baroi. Deputy Attorney General Md Ahsan Habib represented the state, while lawyer Mohammad Rafiul Islam appeared for the BRTA and lawyer Hasibul Haque represented the BRTC.
Later, BRTA lawyer Mohammad Rafiul Islam told Prothom Alo that the court had declared it illegal to call a strike or hartal against a court judgment or order.
If such a strike or hartal is called, the court has directed that action be taken against transport owners and workers’ organisations, he added.