The High Court, in the full text of an order released recently, has directed police to investigate allegations of attacks on bauls, fakirs, sannyasis, as well as shrines (mazars) and khanqahs, and submit a report to the court within 60 days.
Inspector General of Police (IGP), the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner and the chief of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have been asked to comply with the directive.
The HC also issued a rule asking the respondents to explain within four weeks why their failure to ensure the constitutional protection of bauls, fakirs and sannyasis should not be declared illegal.
Secretaries to the ministries of home affairs, religious affairs and cultural affairs, the IGP, the DMP commissioner and the additional inspector general of the CID have been made respondents to the rule, according to the full text of the order.
The order was passed by a High Court bench comprising Justice Rajik-Al-Jalil and Justice Debashish Roy Chowdhury on June 21 after hearing a writ petition seeking necessary directives in this regard.
Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua represented the writ petitioners, while Deputy Attorney General Jamila Mumtaz, Deputy Attorney General Md Zahidul Islam (Johnny), and Assistant Attorneys General Md Zakir Hossain, Md Humayun Kabir Siddiqui, Md Tanvir Prodhan and Sharmin Hamid appeared for the state during the hearing.
The petition said that the growing persecution of Bauls and Fakirs extends far beyond the destruction of their ektaras, attacks on their akhras (spiritual gathering places), and fatwas prohibiting their songs.
According to the petition, "hundreds of bauls, fakirs and sannyasis" have allegedly been forcibly stripped of their long hair and matted locks (jota). The petitioners argued that such acts not only violate their religious beliefs but also deny their bodily autonomy and dignity, amounting to dehumanisation.
They further alleged that their bodies have been treated as objects to be brought under the ideological control of those subscribing to Wahhabi and Kharijite beliefs.
The petition said bauls and fakirs have paid the price for the government's failure to take effective action. As citizens of Bangladesh, violations of their fundamental rights also undermine the country's democratic character, it added.
The petition further contended that the state's inaction has emboldened such acts of violence and persecution, allowing them to continue unabated. It also noted that social media pages that went viral after sharing videos of forcibly cutting the hair of bauls continue to promote and perpetuate such religious and cultural persecution.
Barrister Jyotirmoy Barua submitted the petition on behalf of Naripokkho founder Shireen Parveen Haque, Professor Anu Muhammad, Professor Amena Mohsin, Pir Hasan Shah Sureshwari Dipu Noori of Sureshwar Darbar Sharif, Professor Geetiara Nasreen, writer and researcher Altaf Parvez, singer Farzana Wahid Sayan and other concerned citizens.
The petition was filed following incidents in different parts of the country in which groups of miscreants, in the name of maintaining social order and religious reform, allegedly subjected Fakirs, Sufi practitioners and bauls to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
The petitioners argued that such acts, along with the authorities' failure to prevent or respond to them, constitute clear violations of Articles 27, 31, 35(5), 36, 39(1) and 41 of the Constitution.
The provisions guarantee equality before the law, the right to the protection of law, freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, freedom of movement, freedom of thought and conscience, and the freedom to profess, practise and propagate any religion.
