The InternationalCovenant on Civil and Political Rights: A Study on Bangladesh Compliance from which the general populace can hold public officials and politicians to account, protect themselves from discriminatory treatment and exploitation and resolve conflicts at individual or collective levels. As conventional wisdom and global experience demonstrate, a wellfunctioning legal apparatus is one in which law is applied in a fair manner by judges and adjudicators, without undue delays or exorbitant costs, where judicial decisions are transparent and imparted on the basis of accurate assessment of the facts and circumstances and objective application of appropriate rules.51 The Constitution of Bangladesh, with the same spirit, guarantees as a fundamental right that “[e]very person accused of a criminal offence shall have the right to a speedy and public trial by an independent and impartial court or tribunal established by law.”52 In 2004, the government enacted the Speedy Trial Act to expedite selected criminal cases of heinous nature. The Constitution also recognises that all are equal before law53 and are entitled to equal protection of law. In the case of Dr. Neelima Ibrahim Vs. State, it was held that the principle of audi alterem partem (hear the other party) unless expressly excluded by law or by the nature of the objects of any particular law is to be implied to have been 51 See, ibid. Article 39 (3) of the Constitution. Emphasis added. 53 Article 27 of the Constitution. 54 32 DLR (1980) 201. 52 45