THIRD SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 40083/98 by Fuljan BIBI against the United Kingdom

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting on 21 March 2002 as a Chamber composed of

Mr G. Ress , President , Sir Nicolas Bratza ,

Mr L. Caflisch , Mr P. Kūris , Mr R. Türmen , Mr J. Hedigan , Mrs M. Tsatsa - Nikolovska , judges , and Mr V. Berger , Section Registrar ,

Having regard to the above application lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights on 12 December 1997 and registered on 3 March 1998,

Having regard to Article 5 § 2 of Protocol No. 11 to the Convention, by which the competence to examine the application was transferred to the Court,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

The applicant,  Fuljan Bibi, is a United Kingdom national, who was born in Bangladesh in 1951 and lives in Birmingham . She was represented before the Court by Mr M. Andrews, a lawyer practising in Birmingham. The respondent Government were represented by Ms R. Mandal, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, London.

The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.

The applicant married Mr Ali in Bangladesh in 1966. Under Bangladesh law the marriage was potentially polygamous. In 1969 Mr Ali married a second wife, who remains living in Bangladesh.

Mr Ali registered as a British citizen in 1961. He lived and worked in the United Kingdom and paid full social security and national insurance contributions. In 1971 the applicant applied for entry clearance to join her husband. Entry clearance was granted in 1986, when the applicant settled in the United Kingdom.

Mr Ali died on 30 August 1988. On 28 November 1988 the applicant applied for widow’s benefit. Her application was refused on 2 February 1989, on the ground that as a party to a polygamous marriage she did not fall within the definition of “widow” in the relevant social security legislation. She appealed to the Social Security Tribunal and then to the Court of Appeal, which dismissed her appeal on 25 June 1997.

COMPLAINTS

The applicant complain that British social security legislation discriminates against her because she is the surviving spouse of a polygamous marriage. She alleges a violation of Article 14 of the Convention taken in conjunction Article 1 of Protocol No. 1. In addition she raises complaints under Articles 8 and 12 of the Convention.

PROCEDURE

On 23 May 2000 the Court decided to communicate the application to the respondent Government.

The Government’s written observations were submitted on 5 October 2000.

The applicant’s representative was invited to submit his observations in reply by 23 November 2000. On 15 October 2001 the Registry informed the applicant’s representative that the period allowed for submission of his observations in reply had expired and that no extension of time has been requested. A reference to Article 37 § 1(a) of the Convention was also made.

On 20 November 2001 the Registry received the mail returned by the post because of the change of address of the representative.

On 26 February 2002 the post returned a letter sent on 21 January 2002 directly to the applicant. Neither the applicant nor her representative had notified the Court of a change of address.

THE LAW

It appears that the applicant’s representative do not intend to pursue this application. The Court considers that respect for human rights as defined in the Convention does not require it to continue with the examination of the case. The application may therefore be struck off the list of cases pursuant to Article 37 § 1(c) of the Convention.

For these reasons, the Court unanimously

Decides to strike the application out of its list of cases.

Vincent Berger Georg Ress Registrar President