Anisul Huq: How the minister of (in)justice ruled the law

Anisul Huq, who was arrested on 13 August along with Salman F Rahman in a murder case while allegedly attempting to flee the country a week after the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, was one of the top beneficiaries of the fallen regime.

With the blessing of Hasina, he made history, becoming the only person to hold the law ministry portfolio for three consecutive terms.

And seven months ago, when he was picked again by Hasina in January after his previous two five-year terms to lead her government's Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, Anisul expressed "gratitude and appreciation" to Hasina by issuing a press statement to the media through the ministry.

The longest serving law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister, Anisul, however was never elected as MP in a free and fair election. He was elected as MP thrice in 2014, 2018 and 2024 — all held under the Hasina administration only to give her so-called "legitimacy" for clinging to power.   

For such a government that suffered from a legitimacy crisis, Anisul became Hasina's most "trusted" member of the cabinet who was given the enormous responsibilities to lead the government's administration of justice, which serves as the bedrock of any civilised society.

The justice administration embodies the principles of fairness, equity and the rule of law, ensuring that individuals' rights are protected and disputes are resolved in an orderly manner.

But how was Anisul's performance as the head of this ministry?  

The Rule of Law Index of the World Justice Project unveils the reality on the ground in Bangladesh.

The country that scored 0.42 out of 1 in 2015 (scores range from 0 to 1 and ranked 93 of 102 countries on the index) saw a nosedive on the latest one. 

For a government that suffered from a legitimacy crisis, Anisul became Hasina's most "trusted" member of the cabinet and was given the enormous responsibility of leading the government's administration of justice, which serves as the bedrock of any civilised society.

On the last index released in October 2023, Bangladesh ranked 127th out of 142 countries with a score of 0.38. Bangladesh, along with Pakistan and Afghanistan, scored lowest in the region. Nepal was named the top performer in South Asia, ranking 71st globally, followed by Sri Lanka (77th) and India (79th). Even among the 37 lower middle income countries globally, Bangladesh ranked 28th.

Countries such as Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland that remain among top ten performers on the index scored double the value of Bangladesh.

The appalling ranking on the Rule of Law Index proves Bangladesh to be among those countries with the worst functioning justice system because of weak adherence to the rule of law, lack of judicial independence and rampant corruption. The justice system in Bangladesh is highly inefficient and non-transparent, according to the World Justice Project, resulting in further sufferings to justice seekers. 

Countries that perform well on the Rule of Law Index also do well on the Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International, proving that effective rule of law reduces corruption and protects people from injustices large and small. Bangladesh always performs poorly and remains at the bottom of the corruption index, which is a reflection of unchecked and rampant corruption in the administration at all levels.

The sorry state of the criminal justice system and poor human rights situation are among the factors that forced Bangladesh to respectively score only 0.30 and 0.29 on the sub-indices. This exposed the miserable failure of the ex-law minister.

A partisan approach to enforcing laws through excessive politicisation of police, a key component of the criminal justice system, and a complete control over the judges and magistrates working in lower judiciary made the situation worse.

Both the law enforcement agencies and the lower branch of the judiciary were blatantly abused to crush the opposition and dissenting voices against the Hasina regime.

The law ministry under the reign of Anisul allegedly kept the lower judiciary under its thumb through controlling the promotion and posting of judges and magistrates.

In the lower judiciary, it was an open secret that if a bail was granted to a critic of the government or an opposition party man even on the basis of merit, the judge or magistrate had to face the music. A telephone call from the law ministry denounced the decisions.

Denying bail to the opposition men arrested by the police had become an unwritten and automatic instruction of the law ministry whenever they tried to intensify street agitation.   

If a judge or magistrate defied the law ministry's instruction and tried to work independently to dispense justice, they would either be transferred or made OSD.

Anisul Huq had been in charge of the show since 2014, but he was a surprise pick.

During the tenure of the caretaker government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed, Anisul was also the chief counsel and special prosecutor of the Anti-Corruption Commission, which launched a crackdown on politicians and businessmen for alleged corruption. Hasina and Khaleda Zia were among the politicians who were sued and put behind bars.

But after Hasina returned to power through the December 2008 election, his role during the emergency regime was no longer an issue. It was widely believed that he was picked by Hasina because of his father, Sirajul Huq, who was a close aide of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and later became chief special prosecutor of the state since 1996 in the Bangabandhu murder case when its trial began during the first term of Hasina. 

After his father's death in 2002, Anisul was appointed as the chief special prosecutor in the Bangabandhu assassination case during Hasina's second term when the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court opened the hearing in 2009. Anisul was also appointed by the Hasina government as the lead prosecutor in the 2009 BDR insurgency-related Pilkhana murder case.

His involvement in these two cases helped climb the ladder to power. He sought nomination from the AL to contest the 2014 election.

Under his leadership, the law ministry hurriedly drafted the most controversial 16th constitutional bill, empowering the parliament to impeach judges of the Supreme Court and abolishing the decades old Supreme Judicial Council led by the chief justice.

The cabinet approved the draft bill in August 2014, which was passed next month by the parliament formed through the controversial election in January of that same year. The amendment brought the apex court and the government to a faceoff, following which the regime forced the then chief justice SK Sinha, who authored the lead verdict scrapping the amendment, to resign.

Anisul also played a key role in muzzling dissenting voices through digital security laws. Police were empowered by amending the ICT law to make arrests without court warrants if a case was filed under article 57. However, abuse of the law was so pervasive that the Hasina government had to follow new tactics.

The government came up with the Digital Security Act (DSA) after the 2018 election, which was basically old wine in a new bottle. The new law retained the provision of section 57 in different ways, allowing police to continue arbitrary actions for muzzling dissenting voices against the government. Facing widespread criticism in home and abroad by rights bodies, the law minister advised the Hasina regime to come up with a new law,  the Cyber Security Act, in 2023, but it retained the same provisions, just moderating the penalties.

Every time Anisul defended the changes of the cyber law and promised its fair enforcement. But abuse of the law established a reign of fear, curtailing people's freedom and liberty.

Back in February, Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud had visited Bangladesh to attend a two-day International Conference on "South Asian Constitutional Courts in the Twenty-First Century: Lessons from Bangladesh and India". 

A picture from the event shows Chandrachud sitting with the then prime minister Hasina, chief justice Obaidul Hasan, and law minister Anisul Huq, among others, on the concluding day of the conference. Today, none of the three are in office. Hasina has fled the country and Anisul has been arrested. Obaidul, being the chief justice, was legally obliged to protect the independence of the entire judiciary. But he miserably failed to do so and was forced to resign amid accusations of being an associate of the Hasina regime.

While speaking at an independence day function in New Delhi on Thursday, Chandrachud could not avoid the issue of crisis-hit Bangladesh.

He asserted that the unrest in Bangladesh is a "clear reminder" of how important liberty and freedom are.