Secularism and the Constitution of Bangladesh: Issues and Concepts

The concept of secularism has re-appeared in the Constitution of Bangladesh after 35 years in the wilderness, owing to a High Court judgment of 2005 and the recent Fifteenth Amendment. However, for a principle that has encountered both complete abolition and celebrated revival, constitutional secularism has been noticeably under-debated and under-scrutinised in the highest forums. This book takes the High Court judgment as the starting point in its path of reassessment of the arguments, justifications and elucidations relating to secularism forwarded in the judgment itself. In doing so, an analysis of constitutional secularism in Bangladesh is supported by a comparative study of the same notion in the Indian and American constitutional backgrounds. The historical setting in which the Constitution was promulgated is also outlined with a specific focus on the appearance of secularism in the document. In whole, this book sheds light upon the questions that need to be asked and the issues that need to be addressed in relation to constitutional secularism in Bangladesh. The book can be used by students, academics, lawyers and constitution enthusiasts alike.