Compensation for rape victims and their family members remains elusive in the existing criminal justice system, with a clear mandate absent in the relevant law, say legal experts.
On the other hand, a law drawn up to address compensation for victims of violent crimes, including rape, has been in the draft stages for 14 years.
Legal experts said the current system has left rape victims and their families to fend for themselves during long, difficult trial proceedings, deprived of state support they desperately need.
Take the widely reported case of the five-year-old girl abducted and raped by the father of one of her friends while she was playing near her home in Dinajpur in October 2016.
14th January, 2021 10:33:30
A female employee of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) has secured bail in a defamation lawsuit of Tk 100 crore filed by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
The court of Senior Judicial Magistrate Tamanna Farah in Cox s Bazar passed the order after BLAST employee Farzana Akhtar appeared before the court with the bail plea on Thursday.
BLAST lawyer Abdus Sukkur said, “The court took the fact that my client is a victim of torture into cognizance and granted her bail. My client will be proven innocent in the case.”
Meanwhile, plaintiff lawyer Sajjadul Karim said, “The court can grant bail to the accused but that does not mean the case is closed. She will be proven guilty in court.”
Defamation Case: BLAST employee gets bail Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar Our Correspondent, Cox’s Bazar
A female employee of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) yesterday secured bail in a defamation case of Tk 100 crore filed against her by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
Senior Judicial Magistrate Tamanna Farah in Cox s Bazar passed the order around 11:30am yesterday, said BLAST lawyer Abdus Sukkur.
The case was filed on November 10 last year, accusing the woman of premeditated propagation of false allegations such as that of gang-rape against some BGB personnel.
Nayeb Subedar Mohammad Ali Molla, in-charge of Damdamia check post of BGB Battalion-2 on Cox s Bazar-Teknaf highway, filed the case.
Whenever there is an incident of rape, most people tend to say that it was the girl or woman s fault, and question her character, social class, outfit, sexual experience, and lifestyle.
After the news of the rape and subsequent death of a 17-year-old O-level student was published Thursday night, many took to social media to blame the girl.
At a Dhaka court yesterday, 18-year-old Fardin Iftekhar Dihan confessed to his role in killing the girl after raping her. The doctor who did the postmortem also said excessive bleeding due to injuries from the rape led to her death.
Nevertheless, people on social media keep saying that it was consensual sex and should not be called rape. The girl went on a date with her boyfriend… If the girl had any decency, she would have never gone to her boyfriend s flat before marriage, commented a Facebook user under the post of a news report about the incident.