Right to leave country never considered an absolute right

The High Court in a full text of a verdict observed that one's right to leave the country has never been considered as absolute right.
Despite the long-standing ideal of free movement, it has in practice always been subject to the state's restrictions, it also observed.
The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman delivered the verdict after hearing a writ petition filed by Tafsir Mohammad Awal, one of the directors of Multimode Group Limited, challenging the legality of a travel ban on him by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The HC bench announced its short verdict on 24 February 2022, while the full text has been released on the SC website recently.
The HC bench observed: "It is now well settled that freedom of movement as envisaged in our Constitution is not absolute, meaning thereby that the same is subject to certain limitation… The restriction can be imposed by law only, not by an executive order."
Referring to an Appellate Division verdict, the HC said, "Under article 36 of the Constitution freedom of movement is one of the fundamental rights guaranteed to every citizen of the country which cannot be abridged or denied arbitrarily on mere liking or disliking without any specific law authorising lawful justification for this purpose…"
The HC said, "It is axiomatic that there is no provision in the ACC Act, 2004 and the Rule in the ACC Rules, 2007, by which the ACC is authorized or empowered to pass any order putting any embargo upon the petitioner to leave and re-enter in Bangladesh…"
Barrister Saqeb Mahbub, one of the counsels of Tafsir, earlier said, "Tafsir Awal is a regular traveller and wanted to visit the UK as part of his regular journey to this destination in January 2021. He went to the airport on January 24 in 2021 board the Biman Bangladesh flight scheduled for London where the immigration authority off boarded him without any prior notice citing that they have instruction from their higher officials not to allow him to leave the country…"
Thereafter, the ACC moved a petition before the Appellate Division challenging the interim order passed by the High Court and the full court of the Appellate Division passed a judgment in favor of Awal stating that the ACC cannot impose any such ban on Awal without an order from the court. Later, the HC bench disposed of the petition in light of the Appellate Division's earlier judgment.

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