Dhaka, Mar 6 (bdnews24.com)—The High Court has ordered four people to be present on Mar 22 for their involvement in pronouncing the edict on temporary marriage, which had forced a peasant couple in Moulvibazar to go into hiding for four months.
The bench of justices A H M Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Sheikh Mohammad Zakir Hossain gave the order on Sunday after the four – Faizul Islam, Asgor Mia, Abul Kalam Azad and Fakhrul Islam, the imam of the local mosque – came to the court along with five others in line with a previous directive of Mar 2.
The same bench on the previous day ordered 12 people involved to be present in response to a petition filed by advocate Manzill Murshid. However, one person was mentioned twice.
Of the 11 asked to be present, Wahidur Rahman Mesbah and Mobashwer Miah did not attend the hearing.
The other five – Mohan Mia, Mujahid Mia, Mesbahur Rahman Chowdhury, Rakib Mia and Samir Mia - were brought to court along with the four by Moulvibazar Sadar police chief Azizur Rahman.
Azad Miah and Nannu Mia, two others involved in the fatwa pronouncement, are already in jail in a case filed by the police over the matter.
The couple, Koichhar Mia and Rabeya Khatun, told a press conference in Dhaka on Feb 9 that a local cleric, Moulvi Faizul, and influential people had given the fatwa for their Hilla marriage as Koichhar had verbally divorced his wife during a heated quarrel.
Hilla marriage means a female's interim marriage to a third person after a divorce to remarry the first husband.
The couple had told reporters that the clerics involved in pronouncing fatwa were pressing them to stay separate and Rabeya to marry Faizul before she got married with Koichhar again.
They said they fled home as Rabeya was threatened with 100 lashes in case of violation of the edict.
Earlier on Feb 13, two people involved in fatwa pronouncement -- Faizul and Asgar Mia -- appeared before the court on summon. The court summoned the nine upon the statement of Faizul and Asgar.
A High Court bench on July 8 last year had ruled illegal any punishment in the name of fatwa.
bdnews24.com/sn/rn/2210h
