The High Court has given orders to give some legal rights to all the rivers in Bangladesh
This article by Nawaz Farhin Antara was published in the Dhaka Tribune, January 30th, 2019.
— The High Court on Wednesday accorded the Turag river the status of “legal person” to save it from encroachment and said that the status will be applicable for all rivers across the country.
As a natural person, human beings are protected by a set of constitutional rights and the status for the rivers will accord the rivers with some basic legal rights.
This is a landmark ruling in a case that has set the precedent for all rivers in Bangladesh to have a “legal person” status in Bangladesh.
The bench of Justices Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Md Ashraful Kamal gave the order while delivering the verdict in a writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.
The court will complete delivering the verdict today with a set of directives on saving the rivers from the encroachment.
Explaining the reasoning for the living entity status, the court said that the rivers are shrinking everyday because of illegal establishments on the river banks.
“Bangladesh and its people will be in danger in the future if the rivers lose navigability and are not saved from encroachment,” the court said. MORE…