Abu Saleh; Dbarta24 – The High Court has stepped into a crucial legal debate surrounding personal autonomy and criminal law, questioning why the legal provision penalizing only men for engaging in physical relationships under a promise of marriage should remain valid.
On Tuesday, the High Court bench led by Justice Habibul Gani issued a rule directing the concerned authorities to explain why this gender-specific punishment should not be declared illegal.
The court’s intervention addresses a growing legal debate over how the state regulates adult consensual relationships. Specifically, the bench questioned why criminalizing consensual relationships between adults under the pretext of a “false promise of marriage” should not be deemed unconstitutional.
Furthermore, the court asked why the newly introduced provisions added via the “Women and Children Repression Suppression (Amendment) Act, 2026” should not be declared unconstitutional, ineffective, and void.
Supreme Court lawyer Ishrat Hasan stood for the writ petitioner during the proceedings.
Legal challenges on this matter have been raised previously through earlier writ petitions. However, through Tuesday’s supplementary rule, the court has more explicitly targeted the constitutional validity of the recently amended law, compelling the relevant authorities to provide a formal justification.
According to the writ petition, treating private, consensual relationships between adults as a criminal offense based on a “false promise of marriage” is inherently ambiguous, discriminatory, and a direct violation of fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.
The legal challenge argues that such provisions overreach into personal liberties and unfairly target a single gender.
The High Court’s latest rule marks a significant development in testing the boundaries of personal freedom and criminal liability within Bangladesh’s legal framework.
As the respondents prepare their replies, the debate highlights ongoing tensions between statutory law and constitutional fundamental rights regarding adult relationships.