The Bangladesh Supreme Court has called for strong punishment for anyone who tries to usurp power or implement martial law in the country. A six-judge 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 court said 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.