The HC bench that gave orders in Bangla

In a goodwill gesture, the High Court bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Atabullah issued all its orders in Bangla on Thursday -- the first day of February -- to honour the 1952 Language Movement.

“Today is the start of the month of language. We will issue all the orders and verdicts in Bangla in honour of our mother tongue, Bangla and the martyrs of the Language Movement though it is difficult to do so,” Justice Zaman said at the beginning of the court proceedings.

The HC bench began providing orders of writ petitions following the cause list afterwards.

February is the month of the iconic Language Movement. February is the month of mourning. Yet, it is a matter of dignity for the nation as only the Bengalese have sacrificed their lives for establishing Bangla as state language.

On Feb 21, 1952, Salam, Jabbar, Shafiq, Barkat and Rafiq were martyred during their struggle to maintain Bangla as an official language in then East Pakistan. Feb 21 has since been recognised as International Mother Language Day and is celebrated across the world.

The court tradition of giving judgments and orders in Bangla began with the late Justice ARM Amirul Islam Chowdhury, who kicked off the practice in the 1990s.