Tuesday, August 30 2005 09:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Dhaka: In a landmark judgement, Bangladesh High Court yesterday (August 29, 2005) declared 'illegal' and 'void' the 1975 military takeover that killed the country's independence architect and first President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Judges A.B.M. Khairul Huq and ATM Fazle Kabir made the observations in a dispute over an abandoned property in a writ challenging the validity of a martial regulation, incorporated in the country's fifth Constitutional Amendment, ratifying all martial law actions taken between August 15, 1975 and 1979.

"Taking over the powers of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh with effect from the morning of August 15, 1975 by Khondoker Moshtaque Ahmed, the usurper, placing Bangladesh under martial law and his assumption of the office of the President of Bangladesh by Proclamation of 20-8-75 were in clear violation of the Constitution and as such illegal without lawful authority and without jurisdiction," the judges said.

"Consequently, all his subsequent actions as the President of Bangladesh were illegitimate and void," they added.

The bench also observed that by taking over the office of the President of Bangladesh and entering into the office on November 6, 1975 by Justice Abusadat M Sayem and his assumption of the powers of CMLA and appointment of DCMLA were in violation of the Constitution.

The judges said, "The handing over of office of Martial Law Authority to Maj Gen Ziaur Rahman by Sayem, enabling Rahman to exercise all powers of CMLA was illegal. Consequently all his subsequent functions and actions as CMLA were illegal and illegitimate."

The judges also referred to taking over of the presidency by Gen Zia, who later founded the now ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), on April 21, 1977, and observed it was also beyond the ambit of the Constitution and as such illegal.

Gen Rahman's wife Begum Khaleda Zia now heads BNP and the party-led coalition Government in Bangladesh. Gen Zia was assassinated in a coup in May 1981.