The High Court on Monday fined a man Tk 1 lakh over his son’s marriage with a Rohingya girl, who fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar, defying a government ban.

A two-member HC bench comprising Justice Moinul Islam Chawdhury and Justice JBM Hasan passed the order dismissing a writ petition filed by Babul Hossain seeking its order not to arrest his son Shoyeb Hossain Jewel and his Rohingya wife, reports the UNB.

Jewel, 25, son of Babul Hossain of Charigram village in Singair upazila of Manikganj, fell in love with Rafiza, 18, who took shelter in Kutupalong camp in Ukhia upazila of Cox’s Bazar fleeing persecution in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

On September 14 last, they married each other in front of the imam of a camp mosque although there is a government ban on marrying Rohingya women. He also took his wife to his house in Manikganj.

Later, police started looking for the couple to arrest them. Since then, they have been on the run.

Babul filed the writ petition with the HC seeking its order not to arrest and harass the couple.

In the writ, he also sought a rule asking the government to explain as to why the Law Ministry notification published on October 25 banning marriage with Rohingyas should not be declared contradictory to sections 27, 28 and 32 of the Constitution as well as the international convention.

Barrister ABM Hamidul Misbah stood for Babul while Deputy Attorney General Motahar Hossain Raju represented the state.

Mentioning that foreigners cannot move outside a specific area as per the Foreigners Act and there is a government ban on the marriage among Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas, Raju said the petitioner committed two crimes.

The High Court fined Babul for bringing the Rohingya girl out of the camp and for filing the writ to register the couple’s marriage, he said.