Mother’s Name is Sufficient Enough as Legal Guardian: High Court

The High Court of Bangladesh has declared that it will be sufficient if students list their mothers’ names when completing a student information form (SIF) for exams, and they cannot be forced to give their fathers’ names against their will. The court noted that forms without the father’s name must list the mother or another legal guardian in their place.

Additionally, the HC ruled that it was unlawful and unconstitutional to deny admission cards to SSC and HSC applicants who did not use their father’s name in the SIF. The HC bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Md Khairul Alam declared in their decision on a writ petition that everyone has a constitutional right to education and employment.

The petition, filed as public interest litigation to the HC in 2009, was brought by rights organizations Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, and Naripokkho to protest the refusal of the various boards of education to issue registration cards to SSC and HSC candidates who were unable to fill out the SIFs with the names of their fathers and mothers. They said in the petition that applicants who were born in brothels could not name their fathers and would lose their right to an education if they were not permitted to finish their SIFs.

Students can find it difficult to include their father’s name in the SIF, and if they are prevented from finishing the SIF because they left out their father’s name, this would violate their constitutionally guaranteed right to an education, the court ruled. In the regulation, the HC also requested the government’s involved officials to provide justification for why they should not be ordered to update the SIFs to contain identity information such as the name of the candidates’ guardian or parent.

Source: The Daily Star