The InternationalCovenant on Civil and Political Rights: A Study on Bangladesh Compliance instances of harassment against them.105 In 2001, the High Court ruled all legal rulings based on Sha’ria, known as fatwas, to be illegal. After a lengthy judicial review, the Appellate Division upheld the ban as part of a broader ruling against all forms of extrajudicial punishment. Despite this ban, human rights groups and press reports indicate that vigilantism against women accused of moral transgressions often occur in rural areas, and include cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments, such as, whipping. On July 9, 2010 the High Court issued a ruling formally banning fatwas and empowered local officials to combat the issue. Many members of the Hindu community have been unable to recover landholdings lost because of discrimination under the defunct Vested Property Act. The Vested Property Act was an East Pakistan-era law that allowed the government to expropriate ‘enemy’ (in practice Hindu) lands. Under the law, 85