The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh inserted " In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful" at the beginning of the constitution and validated all laws made by military rulers following the

15 August 1975 Bangladesh coup d'état Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak album ...

. It was passed in 1979 under a parliament led by President

Ziaur Rahman Lt. General Ziaur Rahman (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981), was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981. He was assassinated on 30 May 1981 in Chittagong in an army coup d' ...

. The amendment fundamentally altered the nature of the constitution of Bangladesh. The amendment was declared illegal in a verdict of the Supreme Court in 2010. The Fifteen Amendment to the Constitution of Bangladesh, passed in 2011, restored secularism.

Background

President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed in the

and his government replaced by a military one. The second parliament was formed in 1979 led by President General Ziaur Rahman which passed the 5th amendment. After the coup, the new president,

Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad (also spelled Khandakar Mushtaq Ahmed; – 5 March 1996) was a Bangladeshi politician. He was the President of Bangladesh from 15 August to 6 November 1975, after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He was part ...

, repealed the Bangladesh Collaborators (Special Tribunal) Order 1972 which allowed for the trial of war criminals of the

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

. Later, President Justice

Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem (29 March 1916 – 8 July 1997) was a Bangladeshi jurist and statesman. He was first Chief Justice of Bangladesh from 1972 to 1975. He became the President of Bangladesh in the aftermath of counter-coups in November 197 ...

removed the provision that banned religion based politics. President

removed the ban on convicted war criminals becoming voters and becoming members of parliament. The coup regimes lasted from 15 August 1975 to 6 April 1979 during which the country was under martial law. The amendment was passed on 9 April 1979.

Content

* It removed "Bangalee nationalism" and replaced it with "Bangladeshi nationalism" in the constitution. * It removed the ban on religion based politics and allowed the registration of those parties. * It removed secularism from the constitution and added "absolute trust and faith in Almighty Allah" before the preamble to the constitution. * It redefined the word socialism in the constitution be adding a new meaning "socialism would mean economic and social justice". * It removed Socialism and freedom from exploitation added increasing local government and increasing the participation of women. * It legalised all the decisions of the military regimes formed after the 1975 coups. * It made the

Indemnity Act In legal terms, an Act of Indemnity is a statute passed to protect people who have committed some illegal act which would otherwise cause them to be subjected to legal penalties. International treaties may contain articles that bind states to abide ...

law, which provided immunity to the army officers who killed President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family in the 1975 coup.

History

After the

Moon Cinema Hall in old Dhaka was nationalised and handed over to the Bangladesh Muktijoddha Kalyan Trust. The owners filed suit in ''

Bangladesh Italian Marble Works Ltd. v. Government of Bangladesh ''Bangladesh Italian Marble Works Ltd. v. Government of Bangladesh'' is a case of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh. In a significant verdict in 2010, the court overturned the fifth amendment to the Constitution of Banglad ...

''. On 29 August 2005,

Bangladesh High Court The High Court Division, Supreme Court of Bangladesh ( bn, হাইকোর্ট ডিভিশন) popularly known as the 'High Court' is one of the two divisions of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the other division being the Appellate D ...

declared the 5th amendment illegal; the verdict was upheld by Bangladesh Supreme Court with some exceptions on 2 February 2010. Moudud Ahmed, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, told the court the 5th amendment was necessary and that it had been accepted by everyone. On 18 December 2019, Bangladesh Muktijoddha Kalyan Trust handed 1 billion taka to the owner, Maqsudul Alam, as compensation for the nationalisation of his company.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fifth Amendment To The Constitution Of Bangladesh 05