Separation of Judiciary in Bangladesh-Constitutional Mandates and Masdar Hossain Case’s Directions: A Post Separation Evaluation

Abstract

In Bangladesh, the separation of the judiciary and its independence are constitutional mandates repeatedly declared in the judicial pronouncements; but no effective steps were taken by any governments before 2007. In order to fulfill the constitutional mandates and mandatory directions of the judgment of the Masdar Hossain case, the judiciary, particularly judicial magistrate courts were formally separated from the executive on 1st November 2007. More than 12 years have gone since the formal separation of the judiciary from the executive. Under these circumstances, this paper has been conducted to reveal whether all directions of Masdar Hossain case have been implemented and true separation of the judiciary from the executive or the legislature was established. From the analysis of the study, the findings as revealed are negative; therefore, the barriers have also been identified and explored in the paper.