PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL)

1. Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK)
2. Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Truest (BLAST)

1. Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs
2. Inspector General of Police, Madaripur
3. Deputy Commissioner, Madaripur
4. Superintendent of Police, Madaripur
5. Officer-in-Charge, Madaripur Sadar Police Station

A news report was published in the daily Jugantor dated 25.12.2012 stating that on 22.12.2012 with the help of the local administration, a group of persons claiming to be religious leaders hung four signboards on the gates of the century-old brothel in Madaripur purporting to impose restrictions on individuals from entering the premises from sunset to sunrise. A group named the IslaheKaomiParishad continuously threatened the sex-workers with eviction.
Ain o Salish Kendra, BLAST and another organisation having been approached by the Sex Workers Network of Bangladesh filed a Writ Petition before the High Court Division.
 

The Court issued a Rule Nisi upon the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Inspector General of Police, Deputy Commissioner, Madaripur, Superintendent of Police, Madaripur and Officer-in-Charge, Madaripur Sadar Police Station, Madaripur, to show cause as to why the alleged eviction of the sex workers should not be declared to be without lawful authority and to be unconstitutional as being violative of the fundamental rights of the residents of the Madaripur brothel as guaranteed by Articles 27, 31 and 32 of the Constitution. The Court also issued an interim direction not to harass the sex workers at the Madaripur Brothel. The Court further directed the respondents to remove the signboards from the four gates of Madaripur Brothel which had imposed restrictions upon the clients of the sex workers to enter into brothel from sunset to sunrise, and also allowed the sex workers and the other residents of the said brothel to continue their occupation for a period of three (3) months from the date of order. 

Ms. Justice Naima Haider
Mr. Justice Zafar Ahmed