Special Powers Act, 1974 is an Act of parliament in Bangladesh. The law allows the government of Bangladesh to detain people indefinitely without bringing any formal charges against them.
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👉 Special Powers Act, 1974 in the context of Constitution of Bangladesh
The Constitution of Bangladesh, officially the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is the supreme law of Bangladesh. The constitution was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh on 4 November 1972, it came into effect on 16 December 1972. The constituent assembly was composed of officials elected in the national and provincial council elections of Pakistan held in 1970. The denial of this electoral body resulted in the Bangladesh Liberation War. The Constitution establishes Bangladesh as a unitary parliamentary republic. Directly borrowing from the four tenets of Mujibism, the political ideas of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the constitution states nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism as its four fundamental principles.
While the Constitution nominally declares the protection of fundamental rights and an independent judiciary, it has been often criticized for fostering autocracy and failing to safeguard human rights. The Fundamental Principles of State Policy in Part II are often described as empty rhetoric due to their unjusticiability, while Fundamental Rights in Part III are constrained by extensive, imposable restrictions. Loopholes in the guise of poorly defined 'restrictions' in rights provisions have enabled the continued enforcement of the repressive sections of British colonial laws such as the Penal Code of 1860 and the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1898, and facilitated the enactment of later repressive laws such as the Special Powers Act of 1974, and the Cyber Security Act of 2023.
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Special Powers Act, 1974 in the context of Law of Bangladesh
Bangladesh is a common law country, with its legal system inherited from the British during their colonial rule over British India. The region now known as Bangladesh was referred to as Bengal during both the British and Mughal periods, and by other names in earlier times. While religious and political institutions existed from ancient times, the Mughals were the first to recognise and formalize them through state mechanisms. The Charter of 1726, granted by King George I, authorised the East India Company to establish Mayor's Courts in Madras, Bombay and Calcutta and is recognised as the first codified law for the British India. As a part of the then British India, it was the first codified law for the then Bengal too. Since independence in 1971, statutory law enacted by the Parliament of Bangladesh has been the primary form of legislation. Judge-made law continues to be significant in areas such as constitutional law. Unlike in other common law countries, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh has the power to not only interpret laws made by the parliament, but to also declare them null and void and to enforce fundamental rights of the citizens. The Bangladesh Code includes a compilation of all laws since 1836. The vast majority of Bangladeshi laws are in English. But most laws adopted after 1987 are in Bengali. Family law is intertwined with religious law. Bangladesh has significant international law obligations.
During periods of martial law in the 1970s and 1980s, proclamations and ordinances were issued as laws. In 2010, the Supreme Court declared that martial law was illegal, which led to a re-enactment of some laws by parliament. A Right to Information Act has been enacted. Several of Bangladesh's laws are controversial, archaic or in violation of the country's own constitution. They include the country's prostitution law, special powers act, blasphemy law, sedition law, internet regulation law, NGO law, media regulation law, military justice and aspects of its property law. Many colonial laws require modernization.