'Can't have secularism and Islam as state religion': Ex-Bangladesh chief justice on violence against Hindus

As Bangladesh searches for peace after the sudden fall of Sheikh Hasina, the country's former chief justice Surendra Kumar Sinha has said that Hasina had to go and it was only a matter of time. Sinha, the only Hindu to become the chief justice but had to step down following corruption charges, also said that the interim government of Professor Muhammad Yunus was "unconstitutional". 

The former top judge said Islam as a state religion and secularism cannot go together, suggesting that Bangladesh needs to do away with state religion if wants to become a truly secular nation. "You will have secularism, but keep Islam as the state religion in the Constitution. The two cannot go together," he said in an interview with The Times of India when asked whether Yunus's outreach to Hindus will ensure the safety of the minority. 

Ever since the Hasina government fell, the minority has been attacked, with their house burnt, temples vandalised, and women threatened and asked to leave the country.    

Sinha also questioned laws like the Vested Property Act, which affects Hindus. "You cannot have laws like the Vested Property Act that confiscated Hindu properties. Similarly, there cannot be separate laws for the management of Hindu temples. No impunity for anyone. If real democracy, rule of law, and equality prevail, Hindus will stay safely in Bangladesh," he said. 

The former justice, however, said that all Hindus cannot come to India. Facing attacks, several Hindus have appealed through social media to the Indian government to take some measures to help the minority community there. 

Supreme Court lawyer J Sai Deepak recently shared some messages and emails of Hindus who wanted to leave Bangladesh. 

On Tuesday, the Bangladesh National Hindu Grand Alliance said that following the fall of the Hasina government, the Hindu community had faced attacks and threats in 278 locations across 48 districts.

The alliance's executive secretary Palash Kanti Dey said the incidents of vandalism, looting, arson, land grabbing, and threats to leave the country had been repeatedly inflicted on the Hindu community due to the shifting political landscape. 

A Bangladeshi court on Tuesday sentenced in absentia former top judge Surendra Kumar Sinha, the country's first chief justice from the minority Hindu community, to 11 years in jail on two counts of graft in a case over money laundering and breach of trust.

Case against Surendra Kumar Sinha 

In November 2021, a Bangladeshi court sentenced in absentia Sinha to 11 years in jail on two counts of graft in a case over money laundering and breach of trust. The court sentenced the former chief justice, who lives in the United States, to seven years in prison for money laundering and another four years for criminal breach of trust.

The former top court was sentenced in a case involving the laundering of $4,70,000 taken in credit from the Farmers Bank, now known as the Padma Bank. The judgment came four years after Sinha resigned while on a visit abroad. Sinha served as the 21st Chief Justice of Bangladesh from January 2015 to November 2017.

Sinha, however, alleged that he was forced to resign because he opposed Bangladesh's then-incumbent "undemocratic" and "authoritarian" regime headed by Hasina. 

In his interview with TOI, the former judge called Hasina a 'dictator', who he claimed carried out 'brutality' on people. "If she can kick out a sitting chief justice, what more proof do you need of her autocratic ways? What has happened is an achievement of the people of Bangladesh," he said, adding that the politicians have failed for 53 years.