Three Bangladeshi Mobile phone companies have been punished for the commercial use of national anthem of the country.
The High Court (HC) declared illegal the use of national anthem tune as ring tone or welcome tune on Thursday.
The HC also fined Tk 50 lakh each to Grameenphone, Banglalink and Aktel (Rabi) for using national anthem as a business tool.
The three mobile phone operators were made defendants of the writ petition filed on 2006 by advocate Kalipada Mridha, a Supreme Court lawyer.
In the writ petition, Kalipada stated that the three mobile companies have been using tune of the national anthem for business purposes, which is derogatory and a criminal offence.
The court directed the enterprises to pay the sum of the penalty to three welfare organisations including Kidney Research Centre and National Heart Foundation within 30 days after getting certified copy of the judgment.