The Constitution of Bangladesh provides for an impartial and independent judiciary as one of its cornerstones and guardian. In reality though, the judiciary has been subservient to the all-powerful executive government since independence in 1971. Various governments made rhetorical promises to separate the judiciary from the executive only to appease popular demand for an independent judiciary. The domineering culture of executive autocracy over the constitutional imperative of the separation of power militated against the creation of an independent judiciary. This situation led Masdar Hossain, a lower court judge, to lodge a writ petition with the Supreme Court (SC) seeking an order for the separation of the judiciary from the executive as required in Article 22 of the Constitution.