Judiciary of Bangladesh

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The Judiciary of Bangladesh (Bengali: বাংলাদেশের বিচার বিভাগ — Bānlādēśēra bicāra bibhāga) or Judicial system of Bangladesh (Bengali: বাংলাদেশের বিচার ব্যবস্থা — Bānlādēśēra bicāra byabasthā) is based on the Constitution and the laws are enacted by the legislature and interpreted by the higher courts. Bangladesh Supreme Court is the highest court of Bangladesh. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh has been described in Article 94(1) of the Constitution of Bangladesh.^[1] It consists of two divisions, the High Court Division and the Appellate Division. These two divisions of the Supreme Court have separate jurisdictions.^[2]

The Bangladeshi judiciary faces a severe shortage of judges. As of July 2017, 1,268 judges deal with over 2.7 million cases in lower courts, 86 High Court justices deal with 431,000 cases and 6 Supreme Court justices deal with 13,000 cases.^[3]

Supreme Court[]

Chief Justice[]

The Chief Justice of Bangladesh is the chief amongst the judges of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, and also head of the whole judicial establishments, including subordinate courts. The chief justice is appointed by the President of Bangladesh. The Chief Justice sits in the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court with other judges to hear and decide cases, presides over meetings of the full Supreme Court to transact business relating to administration of the court, and supervises the discipline of the judges and magistrates of the subordinate courts.^[4]

Appellate Division[]

The Supreme Court of Bangladesh has two divisions namely the Appellate Division and the High Court Division (HCD). The Appellate Division hears both civil and criminal appeals from the High Court Division. The Appellate Division may also decide a point of law reserved for its decision by the High Court, as well as any point of law of public interest arising in the course of an appeal from a subordinate court to the High Court, which has been reserved by the High Court for the decision of the Appellate Division.

High Court Division[]

The High court division of the Supreme court consists of Civil courts, Criminal courts and some Special courts and tribunals.

District Courts[]

Civil Courts[]

Five civil courts exist in this hierarchy:

• District Judge Court
• Additional District Judge Court
• Joint District Judge Court
• Senior Assistant Judge Court
• Assistant Judge Court

Criminal Courts[]

Two types of Criminal Courts exist in this hierarchy:^[5]

District Sessions Courts[]

• District Session Judge Court
• Additional District Session Judge Court
• Joint District Session Judge Court

Magistrate Courts[]

• Chief Judicial Magistrate Court
• Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court
• Senior Judicial Magistrate Court
• Judicial Magistrate Court

City Criminal Courts[]

As of 2020 only the flowing five cities have metropolitan courts:^[6]

• Dhaka
• Chittagong
• Rajshahi
• Khulna
• Sylhet

Generally, Metropolitan court deals the criminal offenses occur in the metropolitan area. Currently, only Metropolitan Sessions courts are found in Bangladesh. Metropolitan Court doesn't deal with Civil cases. Thus Metropolitan courts are of 2 subtypes of session or criminal. Those are:

Metropolitan Sessions Courts[]

• Metropolitan Session Judge Court
• Additional Metropolitan Session Judge Court
• Joint Metropolitan Session Judge Court:

Metropolitan Magistrates Courts[]

• Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court
• Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court
• Metropolitan Magistrate Court

Specialized Courts and Tribunals[]

• Constitutional Court
  • None
• Administrative Court
  • Administrative Tribunals
• Finance Court
  • Money Loan Courts
  • Insolvency Courts
  • Income Tax Appellate Tribunals
• Labour Court
  • Labour Courts
• Court of Justice
  • International Crimes Tribunal
• Social Court

Bangladesh Judicial Service Association[]

Bangladesh Judicial Service Association (BJSA)(Bengali: বাংলাদেশ জুডিসিয়াল সার্ভিস এসোসিয়েশন (বিজেএসএ) is a professional association of Judges and Magistrates of Bangladesh. The Association headquarters is located in Dhanmondi, Dhaka.

Md. Helal Chowdhury, the District and Sessions Judge Dhaka, is the current President and Bikash Kumar Saha, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, is the Secretary-General of the Association.^[7]

References[]