Aiming to curb repression against women and children in society with an iron hand, the Cabinet on Monday approved the draft of the Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amendment) Bill, 2020 with a provision for death as the highest punishment for rape.
The approval came from the weekly Cabinet meeting held virtually with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The Prime Minister joined the meeting through a video conference from Ganabhaban, while other cabinet members got connected from the Bangladesh Secretariat.
Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam at a press briefing after the meeting said that in the proposed law, the punishment for rape is the death penalty or life imprisonment.
According to Article 9 (1) of the existing Women and Children Repression Prevention Act-2000, the punishment for rape is life imprisonment.
“The Women and Children Affairs Ministry placed the draft bill in the Cabinet for approval bringing amendments to Article 9 (1) of the existing law. The death penalty or life sentence has been proposed as the punishment for rape in it. The Cabinet has agreed on it (the proposal),” said the Cabinet Secretary.
He said the government is amending the law in order to curb repression against women and children with an iron hand.
Since Parliament is not in session now, the bill can be turned into a law in the format of an ordinance, he said adding that the President may promulgate the Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 exercising the power bestowed upon him in the Article 93 (1) of the Constitution.
Khandker Anwarul Islam said a massive campaign now continues for the death penalty. So, it will have a positive impact on the common people. The criminals will now be scared due to the death penalty provision, he said.
According to the Article 9 (3) of the existing law, if a woman falls victim to gage-rape and gets injured or dies, the punishment is the death penalty or life imprisonment for each rapist.
It should be mentioned that as a series of rape incidents has rocked Bangladesh in recent times triggering countrywide protests, the government has decided to go for the toughest action against rapists.
As per the government move, the Ministry of Law Affairs had proposed the death penalty as the highest punishment for rape.
Earlier, Law Minister Anisul Huq said that the initiative was taken as per the directives of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
According to Ain-o-Salish Kendra (ASK), between January and September this year, nearly 1,000 rape cases were reported, including 208 gang rapes.
Meanwhile, the government has taken various other steps to ensure speedy trial of rape cases. The Attorney General's Office has decided to prepare a list of rape-related cases pending before the High Court. The list will be prepared in two months. The state will then request the Chief Justice to form a special bench to ensure speedy trial of these cases.
Additional Attorney General SM Munir said, “It is our moral and legal responsibility to bring the perpetrators to justice by ensuring speedy trial of rape offenders. Various organisations and the top level of the government have urged the state to expedite the trial of rape cases. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is also trying to do this. Therefore, it has been decided to prepare a list for speedy trial of rape cases and present it to the Chief Justice and the High Court.
According to the latest figures from the Supreme Court, about 170,000 cases of violence against women are currently pending in the country's courts. Of them, 50,000 rape-related cases are pending in the high court. Besides, there are 17,506 cases in the country's juvenile courts but there is no separate court. These cases are being tried at the Women and Children Tribunal. The average number of cases pending in each tribunal is 1,064. As a result, it has become difficult to ensure speedy trial of this huge number of cases through 101 tribunals.
As the incidents of rape have increased, an initiative has been taken to prepare a list as per the instructions of the government, by identifying this section of the Criminal Procedure Code.
