Your Advocate
This week Your Advocate is Barrister Tanjib-ul Alam Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh. He is the head of the chamber of a renowned law firm, namely, 'Tanjib-ul Alam and Associates ',which has expertise mainly in commercial law, corporate law, admiralty, employment and labor law, land law, banking law, constitutional law, telecom law, energy law, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property Rights and in conducting litigations before courts of different hierarchies.
Query
Lately we all are witnessing the inhuman attitude of political parties. In this situation what we all should do to protest the unreasonable words of the people who are actually the organs of this country? Where we the middle class people will go to stand? Should we not buy food and starve to death? Should we not use any transportation to communicate? What will be the next that stop taking education because our education system is getting poor? I really want to know your opinion.?
Muhib
Dhaka University
Response
Thank you for your question. I have been answering questions on corporate legal issues. Your question came to me as a surprise as it does not, strictly speaking, relate to any legal and justiciable issue. As a lawyer, when we look at a given scenario, we try to juxtapose the factual background with legal principles. When we see that a given situation does not give rise to any legal issue, as a lawyer we try to avoid the matter as being political matter.
Your concern, however, in the context of fundamental rights has both legal and political significance. While the Government may not have taken the responsibility of feeding every citizen, Article 32 of the Constitution recognises right to life as a fundamental right of every citizen of the country. The meaning of "right to life" has been interpreted by the apex courts of almost all the developed nations like USA, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand over the last one century. Indian Supreme Court has also delivered number of judgments on right to life. The consensus view of the legal scholars all over the world is that "right to life" does not merely mean right to have a life, it also encompasses right to livelihood, to have a healthy and prosperous life where human condition can no longer be described as cruel and brutish.
The current political issues that you have described in your question tend to show that our politicians are becoming oblivious about citizens right to life. In my opinion, right to life also means right to have a life where people can communicate freely from one place to another and between persons. As such, one may argue that having proper road and communication infrastructure is part of right to life.
There is hardly any difference between a beasts' life and that of a human being without education. Therefore, education is the most important aspect of right to life and denial of education amounts to denial of right to life.
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