Late Justice Murshed: a legend of the 20th century

Barrister Nazir Ahmed writes that 3rd April 2015 was the 36th anniversary of the death of Justice Murshed. We remember him with utmost respect on the occasion of his 36th death anniversary. May Almighty grant him the highest place in paradise.

The late Justice Murshed’s outstanding legal career and landmark judgments have made him known both within and outside the legal arena. Through his bravery and boldness, he has earned himself a place in history. His commitment to liberty, fairness and justice – and his determination to see these values upheld – made him spiritually immortal. Hardly any person can go through a legal career in the Indian sub-continent without hearing the name of Justice Murshed.

The full name of late Justice Murshed was Syed Mahbub Murshed. He was born on 11th January 1911 in one of the most respected and distinguished families in Muslim Bengal. His parental forbears were Syeds who settled in the district of Murshidabad during the reign of the Mughul Emperor Shahjahan. His father was Syed Abdus Salek who, after completing a brilliant academic career in the University of Calcutta, joined the Bengal Civil Service and served as a District Magistrate in Bogra and Dinajpur. He had an excellent reputation as an honest and expert officer. His mother was Afzalunnesa Begum, the sister of Sher-e-Bangla A K Fazlul Haque, who was the descendent of Khalid-bin-Walid, the 7th century conqueror and one of the greatest Generals in the history of Islam. The late Justice Murshed was married to Mrs Lyla Arzumand Banu, the daughter of Mohammed Zakariah – a prominent Indian nationalist and the then Mayor of Calcutta, in 1939. They have three sons (Syed Marghub Murshed – a brilliant retired civil servant (CSP); Syed Mamnun Murshed – a renowned academic and diplomat; and Dr Syed Mansoob Murshed – an eminent educationalist) and one daughter (Syeda Shaida Murshed). All of Justice Murshed’s children are highly educated and well established in the country and abroad.

Justice Murshed completed his matriculation in 1926 securing the first position among the successful candidates who appeared in the Calcutta University Matriculation Examination in that year from the Rajshahi Division. He successfully obtained a BA (Hons) from the famous Presidency College of Calcutta in Economics in 1930 and an MA in Economics from the University of Calcutta in 1932. He obtained a First Class LLB degree in 1933 from the University of Calcutta. Justice Murshed then went to the UK for higher legal education. He was called to the English Bar in 1939 and was placed first among the candidates from the then British India appearing in the Bar Exams that year.

Besides his studies, Justice Murshed was actively involved in extra curricular activities. He had taken a keen interest in literature, even in his childhood. While at Presidency College in Calcutta, he once edited the college magazine. He published some articles on issues relating to Palestine and the Middle East in a reputable UK daily newspaper, The Guardian. This made him known throughout the Middle East. His critical article on Quad-e-Azam in The Statesman in the 1940s won Justice Murshed an enthusiastic following. He later emerged as an excellent orator. He successfully led the Debating Society of Calcutta University. As a student, he had a keen interest in sports and was one of the key organisers of the Mohamadan Sporting Club in the 1930s.

Justice Murshed began his legal practice in the Calcutta High Court in the early 1940s. Instead of going to work as an assistant to his uncle Sher-e-Bangla A K Fazlul Haque, he acted as a junior to the then renowned lawyers Sorot Chandra Boshu and A B Khaitun. He made his mark at the Bar, even at an early age. After the partition of the subcontinent, he joined the Dacca High Court and in early 1955 he was elevated to the Bench. Some of his famous judgements – including the Ministers Case, the Pan Case, the Basic Democracy Case, the Mehmood Case and the Convocation Case –` were all landmarks in the constitutional history of Pakistan.

He also served as an Ad Hoc Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 1962. One of his judgements, delivered while serving as an Ad Hoc Justice, is considered to be a legal classic. He served as the Chief Justice of East Pakistan from 1964 to 1967, during which time he kept the banner of the rule of law aloft – both in what is now Pakistan and in what is now Bangladesh. Because of his bravery and bold judgements, the Government felt threatened and nervous and did not leave any possible stone unturned in its attempts to put pressure on him. However, Justice Murshed was a man of principle and conscience. When he thought that he could no longer follow his conscience, he resigned from the post of the Chief Justice, on 16t November 1967. After resigning from the post of Chief Justice, Justice Murshed survived more than a decade, towards the end of which he became very fragile and suffered ill health. He died on 3rd April 1979. On his death, the Indian subcontinent in general and Bangladesh in particular lost a great legal icon – a loss which has not yet been replaced, creating an absence which is still felt.

After his resignation, Justice Murshed helped organise the defence of the Agartala Conspiracy Case. He took active part in the “mass uprising” of 1969. In the round table conference called by President Ayub Khan, he advocated for the eleven points of the students of the then Province of East Pakistan.

Throughout his eventful career, Syed Murshed was associated with cultural societies and humanitarian activities. He was the founder President of the Rotary Club, the Lions Club, the Pak-China Friendship Association and the Bangla-China Friendship Association. He was a life member of the Bangla Development Board and the Bangla Academy. Justice Murshed was the President of the Red Crescent Society in 1956. He established a legal assistance organisation called “Legal Aid”: the first human rights organisation in Bangladesh. The famine of 1943 drew him to the Anjuman-e Mufidul Islam and the cyclones in the 1960s to the Red Cross Society.

Let us see what the leading personalities and jurists of the sub-continent had to say about Justice Murshed.

•The late President of Bangladesh, Justice Abu Syed Chowdhury, termed Justice Murshed’s judgement in the case of Golam Sarwar vs Pakistan Western Railway (PIDE 1462 SE 42) as a “legal classic”.

•According to the former Vice President of Bangladesh, the late Justice AKM Nurul Islam, “whoever came in touch with Justice Murshed – a unique talent of easy, straight and sense of humour – had been attracted to him. Despite having success in each and every stage of life and despite having extraordinary wisdom, he did not have self pride or vanity. In personal life he was simple, kind and caring.”

•The late Justice Abdur Rahman Chowdhury, a former Judge of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, commented on Justice Murshed as being “a giant in the legal field, a giant amongst the jurists and a giant in his own right.” He further said, “his [Justice Murshed’s] concern for the rights and liberty of citizens were reflected in a number of judgments delivered by him. These were, in fact, so many that it is difficult to enumerate them. Many of his judgments are considered as landmarks in the history of the constitutional law.”

•According to Justice Mustafa Kamal, an eminent contemporary jurist and the former Chief Justice of Bangladesh, “in interpreting the law in fine way and apply it accordingly, Justice Murshed had no equivalent contemporary in Pakistan. It is rare to find such an extraordinary constitutional jurist in the Indian sub-continent.”

•The late Hussyn Shahid Suhrawardy, an eminent lawyer of the subcontinent and former Prime Minister of the united Pakistan, called Justice Murshed as an “unfailing protector of civil liberties in Pakistan.” His evaluation of Justice Murshed as a young lawyer in 1937 was, “In my opinion he [Justice Murshed] is an exceptionally intelligent young man who will be a credit in our community.”

•An eminent non-Muslim lawyer, the late Birendranath Sarkar, referred to Justice Murshed as, “the only protector of the minorities of Pakistan during the Ayub-Monaim Era.”

•In praising Justice Murshed, an eminent jurist of Bangladesh, Barrister Syed Istiaque Ahmed, said “When the history of the 20th century judiciary of Bangladesh will be written Murshed’s name and contribution will be prominent…..for what he showed was possible in defence of the law and the Constitution to push the law in the direction of the ‘felt necessities of the time’ as he himself put it, and declared a crusade against any transgression of the Constitution.”

•According to Barrister Moudud Ahmed, a renowned lawyer and politician, “through his talent and wisdom, he (Justice Murshed) was able to bridge between the minds of judges and the minds of the general people.”

•An eminent politician of the sub-continent, Ataur Rahman Khan, commented on Justice Murshed, saying, “Justice Murshed believed democracy was the highest right. He tried to maintain and promote democracy through the legal process.”

Justice Murshed was a living legendary in the Indian sub-continent of the last century. He left us 34 years ago, but he left a legacy for us – our memory of his firm commitment to the principles of liberty, justice, the rule of law and the ideals of liberalism. The firmness, boldness and strictness of Justice Murshed in ensuring justice and fairness is greatly needed in contemporary Bangladesh, where the rule of law is being threatened, justice is being politicised and compromised, and liberties have become cheap commodities which can be taken away very easily. Contemporary judges and lawyers have lot to learn from the shining and outstanding legal and judicial career of Justice Murshed.

Another significant contribution made by the late Justice Murshed was that he gave the final varnish to the drafting of the six points that were the demands of the then Bengali intelligentsia of all walks of life for provisional autonomy, which Sheikh Mujib politically fought and was jailed for. Justice Murshed, as a promising practising lawyer in the early 1950s, was among those who drafted the 21 point manifesto of the Jukta-Front Government, and this was then summarised into the famous six points by him. Again, Mazharul Haq Baki, Chatra League President in late 1966, records that no one except Justice Murshed dared to accept an invitation to be the Chief Guest at their Annual Conference, where Justice Murshed, like Shiekh Mujib, made the clarion call for provincial autonomy for East Pakistan.

During the historical round-table-conference in 1969, and when Ayub was virtually surrendering to the opposition and, additionally, with the dissolution of the one unit in West Pakistan, Justice Murshed demanded one man, one vote. Prior to this new demand, there was parity of 150 seats each for East and West Pakistan in the then Pakistan National Assembly. However, it was when Justice Murshed’s proposal was accepted, the one man one vote concept resulted in 169 seats for East Pakistan out of 300. In other words, it was Justice Murshed who paved the way for whoever came to hold the majority in the East Pakistan being the obvious candidate to form the national government. Therefore, it can safely be said that Justice Murshed was truly the founding father of Bengali nationalism. In conclusion, I quote Dr Mizanur Rahman Shelly, who said, “Murshed was the man in his life span who was endeavouring in building bridges between the past, present and future and a keeper of national conscience.”

•Nazir Ahmed, LLB Hons (London), LLM (London), FCMI (London), FCIArb (UK), Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and Barrister of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, is a UK-based legal expert, analyst, writer and columnist. He can be contacted via e-mail: ahmedlaw2002@yaho.co.uk