Special tribunal to be formed for child rape trials, law to be amended Thursday

The Bangladesh government is taking steps to speed up the trials of child abuse and child rape cases amid a recent spike in reports of such incidents across the country.

Law Advisor Asif Nazrul says the revision of the law will be approved during an advisory council meeting on Thursday.

A special meeting of the advisory council was held on Monday on the issues. After the meeting, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, advisor to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and Law Advisor Asif spoke to the media at the Foreign Service Academy.

Syeda Rizwana said, “Today there was a special meeting of the advisory council. In consideration of the way that rape and violence against women in the country has increased, we sat down to amend the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act. A principled decision has been made to amend the law.”

“There have been incidents of rape and deaths in Magura and Barguna. Taking everything into account, the law ministry has proposed several amendments to the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000. I hope the advisory council will approve the proposals on Thursday after scrutinising them,” she said.

According to the law in Bangladesh, a person is considered a child up to the age of 16.

Rizwana said that the advisory council has decided to increase the number of DNA test labs in the country and appoint more judges to try such cases in order to speed up the trial of rapes.

“One of the reasons for the delay in the trial of rapes is the lack of sufficient DNA labs. At the moment, there is one DNA lab in Dhaka. It has been decided to set up two more DNA labs in Chattogram and Rajshahi. The process of appointing some judges will begin quickly through the Special Judicial Service Commission so that the trial of rape and other cases can be expedited.”

At the meeting, discussions were also held on steps to bar attacks on shrines in different parts of the country. Rizwana and Asif warned that the government will become stricter in suppressing such crimes in the future.

Rizwana said” “We are observing anarchy in the name of shrine demolition. So far, the government has taken up a reactive position; the culprits have been arrested. But now the government wants to warn everyone that we will not accept any form of shrine vandalism. Everyone is being asked to refrain from such acts. Otherwise, strict legal action will be taken.”

WHAT CHANGES WILL THE LAW MAKE?

Legal Advisor Asif said the trial and investigation time is being reduced under the law. Provisions are also being made to establish a special tribunal to only try child rape cases.

Rape cases are often processed slowly because there are two types of cases – one of rape with the lure of marriage with consent and the other of rape cases without consent.

“That is why we have added a provision, whether it is a fraud with the lure of marriage or otherwise, the trial of rape cases is a separate crime. In the case of rape without consent, the trial and investigation time is being reduced. We are giving special importance to such cases. They will be sent to a special tribunal if necessary,” said Asif.

The law advisor said that in the case of sensational rapes, the revised law will give the judge the opportunity to give a verdict based on the testimony, in consideration of the circumstances, instead of waiting for the DNA test report.

“Many cases were left pending while waiting for the DNA report. If the court thinks that it can deliver a verdict based on the medical report and the testimony of the circumstances, then it can do so. There is no need to wait for the DNA report.”

The advisor said that in the new law, if the victim is physically harmed after attacking someone with the intention of rape and failing, then it is also being punished.

Asif said, we have made various arrangements for the protection of victims. If injuries are caused with the intention of to rape or during rape, we have made it punishable.”

However, the law advisor said that the incident of the rape and torture of a child in Magura will be tried quickly under the existing law.

“The amended law has nothing to do with the rape incident in Magura. The trial of the Magura incident will begin in a few days and will be concluded very quickly because there is a lot of irrefutable evidence."