Amendment of law against women and children repression is a strong message
Dhaka: The Cabinet has approved the Prevention of Repression against Women and Children (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020. The maximum punishment for rape in the ordinance is death. The trial must be completed within six months or 180 days. Even if the judge is transferred, the case will continue.
Cabinet Secretary Khandoker Anwarul Islam announced the decision at a press briefing at the Secretariat after the cabinet meeting on Monday (October 12).
The Cabinet Secretary said, "This amendment is not only in view of the protest and movement, we have seen the overall situation in different countries, this decision has been taken by analyzing everything including our current situation." It has also been discussed by the government. People's awareness is important.
On the other hand, Law Minister Anisul Haque said that it will be issued in the form of an ordinance tomorrow (October 13). That will become law. As there is no session of the National Assembly at the moment, the President will issue it in the form of an ordinance.
Recently, one rape after another is happening in the country. For this, there was a demand to amend the law and give maximum punishment for rape. Under the previous law, the maximum punishment for rape was life imprisonment, now it has been increased to death or life imprisonment.
The amendment of the law in the light of the demands of the people and the demands of the time certainly deserves applause. Many think that this will stop the barbaric acts like rape. Rape is the ultimate ugly form of barbarism. Ugly acts like rape cannot go on in any civilized society. Everyone in the society is now speaking out against rape, at this time we think the amendment of the law will send the final message to the perpetrators. Due to the strict laws, the criminal will think before committing a crime, as a result the crime tendency will decrease in the society.
Incidents related to violence and rape against women has caused deep wounds in the society. As has been seen in the past, criminals have gone away with the opportunity of political influence and indulgence which has made the criminals more reckless. Amending the law is also a message to them. Amending the law will have a social impact. Everyone will understand that there is a severe punishment for such a despicable and heinous act, which cannot be avoided.
Recently, there has been a massive mass uprising against rape, violence against women and children. It first started in protest of the incident of gang rape of a couple who were visiting Sylhet MC College. A young couple was visiting Murarichand College in Sylhet in the afternoon. At that time, some BCL leaders staying at the college hostel forcibly detained the couple. They kept the husband in a room captive and raped the bride in turn. As soon as the news broke, ordinary students and crowds roared in protest.
The fire of anger of the students spread not only in Sylhet but also in other parts of the country. The news of another brutal torture of a woman added in the fire spread on social media Facebook while the students were protesting against the gang rape by BCL in Sylhet. That is, in Begumganj, Noakhali, a housewife was tortured naked by Delwar's bahini’s chief Delwar and his cronies, and this infernal scene of torture went viral on Facebook. The housewife of Sylhet MC College was ablaze with the fire of the people's anger over the gang rape of Chhatra League. As a result, after amending the law, the message was given from the highest echelons of the government that rape cannot be allowed to continue unabated in Bangladesh. As a nation, we do not want to live with the stigma of violence against women.
The role of law enforcement in the barbaric incidents in Sylhet and Noakhali also deserves praise. The accused have been arrested quite quickly. It is also a message to the perpetrators to take necessary action by arresting the rapists by imprinting their political identities. Criminals are criminals, they have no different identity.
Protesting against rape, the law has also been amended. In this case, we want to draw attention to another issue. According to an online news portal in Dhaka on Friday, the number of cases pending in the country's 101 Prevention of women and children repression tribunals, including nine in Dhaka is more than two lakh. The High Court had directed a year and a half ago to settle the rape and abuse case within six months. But that instruction was not observed in the lower court. Not only that, this kind of case is pending in the High Court year after year. As a result, many accused are going out on bail due to the loopholes in the law. A year and a half ago, the High Court issued seven-point directives to speed up the trial and reduce the back- log of pending cases. Among these 7 points was the speedy disposal of cases by the court within 6 months. Now our expectation is to settle the cases expeditiously.
Voices have been raised across the country against rape and abuse of women and children. This is a very good sign. The government's provision of the death penalty against rape is also a positive aspect. No one is immune, no support for crimes like rape; It is clear now because rape is a social crime. Every country in the world has strict punishment for this crime. In many countries, rape is punishable by death sentence. Even after that, rape did not stop in those countries. Despite knowing about the punishment, people continue to commit wrongdoings under the persecution of passions. This issue must be kept in mind.
Therefore, it is important to keep in mind the need to awaken a sense of morality in people to prevent social degradation. People's sense of morality is awakened through religious education. In addition to the death penalty, religious values should be included in the curriculum in schools and colleges. This feeling must be infused in the rapist that he also has a mother, sister and daughter. If they were raped, how would he feel? In a word, in addition to the punishment, the rapists should be aware of the mental trauma caused by the rape. Then the results will match quickly.