The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh has upheld a High Court order that declared the use of the national anthem as a mobile phone ringtone illegal.
A three-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, passed the order on Monday.
The bench rejected two separate appeals lodged against the HC order, by mobile phone operator Grameenphone and Banglalink.
The HC on August 5, 2010 declared using the national anthem as a ringtone on mobile phones illegal.
The court also ordered Grameenphone, Banglalink and Robi to donate TK50 lakh each to three charity organisations.
The first two then lodged appeals against the HC order, only to get rejected by the Appellate Division.
The SC, however, commuted the amount of the grant to be given by the mobile phone operators from Tk50 lakh to Tk30 lakh each.