S.M. Masum Billah

Masum Billah Sir will appear on ATN news hour extra at 9:15 pm tonight.

Masum Billah sir will appear live on 'News Hour Extra' on ATN News at 9.30 a.m. tonight.

Thoughts from Masum Billah sir on the prevailing culture of judgment writing in Bangladesh:

I think the issue is not that simple as SK Sinha CJ puts it. However, I agree with his view in spirit. The other views also have some grounds. But as a whole, the issue of writing judgments demands a serious study. The question, for me, is not only about writing a judgment after retirement, but also about the complete pattern of our court's work. We need to address them realistically.
Firstly, the length and prolixity of judgment in Bangladesh is a concern for us. Judgments should be written in simple language (preferably in simple Bangla). They give life to legislation. As such, they should mean something for the justice seekers. Our judges are engaged in an uneventful exercise of writing complex sentences. They make them precarious and often compromise one of the basic elements of rule of law--certainty. They put the readers into a mine in a desperate search for the gold of ratio decidendi. This needs to be discouraged. I have also seen that judges do write unnecessarily lengthy judgments. At times, the paragraphs of the judgments lack logical flow and coherence. Quader Mollah case is a good illustration, which spares 792 pages. Having read it, I got the impression that it could have been written within 200 pages in a clearer way. I also express the same view for the controversial 13th amendment case (747 pages!). Our judges need to understand that quality of the judgment depends on the richness of interpretation, not on the page numbers (note: I am, in principle, fond of CJ Khairul Haque’s judicial acumen).
Secondly, in my reading, I have seen that dissenting opinions in our judiciary are fewer. Most judges tend to concur. I am not sure—why-- is it because they simply agree; or they want to pass their burden on the shoulder of their colleagues; or they love to submit themselves to the personality and attitude of the author judge; or workloads do compel them to concur? I agree that judges might want to send a clear message to the justice seekers in the case of unanimous decision—perhaps by ‘burying and blurring their differences and masking the complexities’ of the context. But we need to be sure about this intention. Dissenting opinion develops a healthy practice of law, though they become impotent for the time being in order to fruit into law. It also removes the doubt of political influence that might have been played on the judges. Dissenting opinion, moreover, strengthens the merit of judicial culture and heritage. I should say that a collegiality of the judges is required to expedite the process of judgment writing.
Thirdly, it’s important to see what our judges are reading and referring to. For, this issue is aligned with the philosophical differences between “law as will” and “law as reason”. In war trial cases, I have seen that the judges have referred a wide body of literature other than the case laws and legislation. In one sense it’s good, but in another sense, it may give rise to controversy, if they are not properly cited and contextualized with the fact in issue of a given case. Justice Shamsuddin Chowdhury’s judgments in 7th Amendment Case (2010) and Quader Molla Case (2013) accentuate this doubt (though I agree with the outcome of these two cases). Moreover, the increasing trend of the judges in citing foreign decisions/authorities require a second thought. We need to increase referring to our own cases, or at best the South Asian cases to sharpen the ability to shape our own jurisprudence. The number of case laws to be cited in a given litigation and the age of the referred cases (precedents) are also relevant in controlling the length of judgments and ensuring the soundness of judicial decisions.
Last but not the least, the pattern of the law reporting should draw our attention. It’s good that the SC has started publishing judgments online. But the SC website is frustratingly, poorly and inadequately articulated and presented. It has not been able to challenge the monopoly of the printing and online private publishers. Judicial opinions are public property, as such, rule of law and people's sovereignty demand that they should not be the subject of commercial monopoly and the CJ should take immediate steps to make them readily available to the greater public.
Having said so, I should mention, that the judges should take care that they are not adventurers. Present or retired, they should weight themselves and not portray as judicial politicians.

Growing curiosity among many Bangladeshis is why and how 195 Pakistani top ranked army officials escaped the trial despite bearing utmost responsibility for committing the crimes of genocide and mass atrocities in 1971.By contrast, few wordings of 1974 Delhi Agreement give rise to a debate, does Bangladesh hold the legal and moral right to try them now?

To answer these frequently asked questions, Masum Billah sir offers a victory day tribute, a very time expected and insightful write up giving some concretely factual and legal arguments in the light of the international law and politics surrounding the trial of war criminals and liberation war of 1971.

Pakistani war criminals should not go unpunished

Go through this write up to enjoy a very lively intellectual debate regarding the place of Suhrawardy in the history. It is a solid and well-grounded piece jointly authored by S.M Masum Billah Sir & Arpeeta Shams Mizan in response to an article on Suhrwardy, written by the eminent columnist Syed Badrul Ahsan.

Suhrawardy's place in history: A reply to Syed Badrul Ahsan Every time we come across a piece by Syed Badrul Ahsan, we come across very easily: each piece from him stands out like crisp paper notes amongst the bundle of pale used faded notes. His words rejuvenate us with rhythmic energy. While reading his columns on historical subjects, we

৩০ মে ১৯৭৩ বঙ্গবন্ধু তাঁর ডায়রিতে লেখেন: "একজন মানুষ হিসেবে মানবজাতির সব উদ্বেগ আমাকে আচ্ছন্ন করে। একজন বাঙালী হিসেবে বাঙালী সংশ্লিষ্ট সবকিছু আমাকে গভীরভাবে ছুঁয়ে যায়। এই বিনম্র সম্পৃক্তি জন্ম নেয় ও লালিত হয় ভালবাসা থেকে--সে এক অবিনশ্বর ভালবাসা--যা আমার রাজনীতি এবং একান্ত অস্তিত্বকে তাত্পর্যপূর্ণ করে তোলে"।

বঙ্গবন্ধুর রাজনীতি ও জীবনদর্শন নিয়ে শ্রদ্দেয় মাসুম বিল্লাহ স্যার এর তথ্যসমৃদ্ধ একটি লেখা। (১৫.০৮.২০১৫)

‘তুমি আসলে আমরা সুকণ্ঠ হতাম’ ‘অসমাপ্ত আত্মজীবনী’র শুরুতে বঙ্গবন্ধুর ব্যক্তিগত নোট থেকে নেয়া একটা ইংরেজি উদ্ধৃতি দেয়া আছে। উদ্ধৃতিটির বাংলা অনুবাদে এর অর্থের গভীরতার প্রতি সুবিচার হয়েছে বলে আমার কাছে প্রতীয়মান হয়নি। তাই সেটি নিজ অনুবাদে এখানে উদ্ধার করলাম। আগ্রহীরা মূল পাঠ্য দেখে ভেদ-বিচার করতে পারেন।

ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় আইন বিভাগের শিক্ষক ড. রিদওয়ানুল হক ও এস এম মাসুম বিল্লাহ স্যার এর যৌথ একটি লেখা।

শুকুর আলী, মৃত্যুদণ্ড ও সংবিধান | | Samakal Online Version সম্প্রতি আপিল বিভাগ শাস্তি হিসেবে শুধু মৃত্যুদণ্ডের বিধান রেখে প্রণীত নারী ও শিশু নির্যাতন দমন (বিশেষ বিধান) আইন, ১৯৯৫-এর কিছু

Masum Billah sir will attend "News Hour Extra" on ATN News tonight at 9.30 pm. Keep your eyes on ATN news.

S M Masum Billah sir takes a learning session today at the Faculty of Law, Dhaka University, on the issue of legal research and writing for the editors of Dhaka Law Review which is a journal of legal scholarship independently run by the students of Dhaka University Law Department.

Masum Billah sir writes an excellent piece on the historic 'Mujibnagar Day' with an in-depth analysis on the implication and contribution of Bangladesh's Proclamation of Independence for international law.

Proclamation of Bangladesh Independence: Implications for International Law On 10 April 1971, the Mujibnagar government (Bangladesh…

WATCH S.M MASUM BILLAH SIR LIVE ON A TALK SHOW ON ATN NEWS TONIGHT AT 9.30 PM

Our S. M. Masum Billah sir is now in USA to attend the World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty scheduled between 23-27 March at Washington DC. Please keep him in your prayer.