Following a number of shocking rape incidents across the country over the past three weeks, the High Court has asked why it should not declare illegal the inaction of authorities concerned in enacting a law with death sentence as maximum punishment for rapists of children or minors under the age of 16.
In a rule issued after hearing a petition on Sunday (Jan 19), the court also asked why the government’s inaction to drop the life imprisonment provision from the law in case of death after rape should not be declared illegal.
The court, moreover, wanted to know why it should not order formation of a special court to try and quickly dispose of the rape cases, building a DNA database of the rapists, providing support to the victims through One-stop Crisis Centre in every district, formulation of a law to ensure witness protection facilities for victims, and more cautiousness for the mass media in publishing the photos of the victims.
The secretaries of law, health, home and women and children affairs ministries and the inspector general of police (IGP) are among those asked to respond to the ruling issued by the bench of justices FRM Nazmul Ahasan and KM Kamrul Kader.
In addition, the court asked the government to form, within 30 days, a commission under the Law Ministry, to prevent rape and ensure safety, security, and support for the victims across the country.
The commission will be led by an additional secretary from the Law Ministry, and will have human and women's rights activists, journalists, lawyers, judges, doctors, and educationists as members.
The court said this commission will have to submit a report to the court within six months, which will have a set of recommendations to prevent rape.
The ruling and directives from the High Court bench came on Sunday after it heard a writ petition filed, in the form of public interest litigation, by Barrister Rabia Bhuiyan.
The maximum punishment for rape in line with the country’s existing laws is life imprisonment. However, if the victim dies, there is a provision for awarding the death penalty to the rapist.
Anti-rape device and 999
On Sunday, another High Court bench also asked the government to form an expert committee to determine the process and feasibility of importing anti-rape alarm devices and have them connected to emergency services hotline 999 — in a bid to prevent incidents of rape.
In its order, the bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman also asked to have the information and communication secretary lead that committee.
The committee will also have representatives from the ICT Division, the IGP, and the ICT department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). They will have to submit their report within 60 days.
The court order came after the hearing of a petition filed, as public interest litigation, on Jan 12 by rights organisations Children’s Charity Bangladesh (CCB) Foundation and Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (Blast).
This bench also issued a ruling, asking why it should not order the authorities concerned to ensure safety and security of women and children from rape, and make everyone aware about the anti-rape alarm devices as well as make them available to all.
Twelve respondents, including the secretaries of Cabinet Division, law, home, and education ministries and the ICT Division, were asked to answer to the rule within four weeks.
CCB Foundation and Blast in their petition said that different countries like Malaysia, Thailand and China around the world have introduced such anti-rape and safety devices for women that can sound the alarm at the click of a button, identify the rapists and even locate the scenes of the incidents.
The incidents of rape and sexual harassment in Bangladesh have gone up in recent years, and such devices need to be introduced here, the petition said.
“For women in our country, we want the device to automatically call 999. But for that to happen, a feasibility study needs to find out what type of device will be the right one for this,” said Advocate Ishrat Hasan, one of the lawyers who stood for the petition during Sunday's hearing.
Why now?
Both writ petitions were filed with the High Court in the wake of a number of rapes of women and children since the beginning of January, including the rape of a Dhaka University student in the capital’s busy Airport Road on Jan 5.
On Jan 9, a college student was also raped at Satchari National Park in Chunarughat upazila, Habiganj, and a 13-year-old girl in Dhaka’s Kamrangirchar area.
An 11-year-old child was raped by four men the next day in Bhatara area of Dhaka.
On Jan 15, a readymade garment worker was also gang-raped by her landlord and three others in Ashulia area.
These were just some of the incidents that left the nation shocked, following which various quarters had been calling for amending the law, and award death penalty to the rapists.
The recent incidents, however, took place just days after rights group Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK) in a report said that the number of rapes in 2019 had doubled, compared to 2018.
It said that a total of 1,413 women were raped and gang-raped throughout last year. The number was 732 in 2018 and 818 in 2017.
The ASK report also noted that altogether 1,087 children, including 37 boys, either faced sexual harassment or were raped in 2019. The number of children victims was 444 in 2018.
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Form panel to supply anti-rape devices: HC
