Mention of marital statusnot mandatory for students’ admission : HC

Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Thursday ruled that educational institutions cannot compel any admission seeker to disclose their marital status for admissions.
The HC Bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Md Khairul Alam delivered the verdict after hearing on a rule that in December 2017 questioned the legality of educational institutions seeking information on marital status of admission seekers.
Following the HC judgement, no student can be forced to disclose their marital status for his or her admission in any institution across the country, said Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta, who represented the state in the case.
The HC also declared illegal Rajshahi Government Nursing College’s action of asking a rape victim to write that she was abandoned by her husband in the admission form, he also said.
Following a writ petition the HC on December 11, 2017, issued a rule upon the government to explain as to why asking about marital status in case of admission procedure in the educational institutions should not be declared unconstitutional.
The HC Bench of Justice Quazi Reza-ul Hoque and Justice Mohammad Ullah passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed on admission complication of an admission seeker who gave birth a child after she had been raped.
The court also directed the Rajshahi Government Nursing College authorities to admit that admission seeker. After final hearing on the rule the HC Bench declared the rule absolute on Thursday.
Earlier, the college authorities asked her to write ‘husband abandonment’ in the vacuum place of the admission form of the college.
Supreme Court Lawyers Fahria Ferdous and Nahid Sultana Jenny filed the writ petition considering a report published on November 14 in 2017 in a Bangla daily under the banner of “Meyeti akhon ki korbe? (What will do the girl now?)”.
Barrister Aneeq R Haque took part in the hearing on behalf of the writ petitioners, while Deputy Attorney General Amit Das Gupta represented the state.