Rights
Written constitution with a basic-structure doctrine and a 2024 rupture
The 1972 Constitution is supreme and the Appellate Division may strike down amendments that damage its basic structure. Following the August 2024 uprising an interim administration took office and constitutional reform is under active consideration.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Unitary state. The Chittagong Hill Tracts have a distinct regional council arrangement under the 1997 Peace Accord.
Governing law
- Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh1972
- Fifteenth Amendment2011
- Supreme Court Judges (Inquiry) Act
In practice
Part III guarantees fundamental rights enforceable by writ under Article 102, and Bangladesh's public interest litigation tradition is genuinely active. The caretaker-government provision was abolished by the Fifteenth Amendment, a change central to the political crisis that followed. Readers should treat the constitutional position as in flux: reform commissions were sitting through 2025 and their proposals may alter provisions cited here.