The Bangladesh Supreme Court has called for strong punishment for anyone who tries to usurp power or implement martial law in the country. The six member Judges bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has made this comment in the full text of its February 2 judgment declaring the 5th amendment to the constitution illegal.In the full judgment which was issued on Tuesday evening the judges have stated that while dismissing the leave petitions we are putting on record our total disapproval of Martial Law and also added that perpetrators of such illegalities should also be suitably punished and condemned so that in future no adventurist, no usurper, would dare to defy the people, their Constitution and their Government, established by them with their consent. The Supreme Court issued the full text of the 184-page judgment five months after the apex court pronounced the main “order portion” of the verdict rejecting two leave-to-appeal petitions and upholding a 2005 High Court order but with some “modifications”. The appellate division has also upheld the High Court verdict terming illegal the usurping of power by Khandaker Mushtaque Ahmed, Abu Sa'dat Mohammad Sayem and Ziaur Rahman between August 15, 1975 and February 1979. The Appellate Division has also commented that despite the mention of Bengali nationalism in the High Court verdict, nationalism should be Bangladeshi.AIR correspondent reports, the full verdict of the appellate division of the Supreme Court upholding the High Court’s ruling on the fifth amendment to be illegal is a milestone in the history of Bangladesh Judiciary. The apex court while declaring all the martial law proclamations to be illegal has also left it to the parliament to frame laws to punish anyone who tries to usurp power through undemocratic processes. The Supreme court has also made some modifications to the High Court order along with observations and comments with reference to certain changes made in the constitution through the fifth amendment which according to it are against the basic features of the original constitution. The Bangladesh government has already set up a 15 member committee headed by the Deputy Leader of the House Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury to draft amendments to the constitution based on the judgement delivered by the country’s Highest court.