Rape hurts more than bullets
The wound of violation for a woman hurts more than the wound of a bullet, a war crimes tribunal said in its observation while handing death to Syed Mohammad Qaisar today.
The war crimes tribunal gave an elaborate observation on the issue of Biranganas and war children of 1971 during delivery of the former Jatiya Party minister’s verdict.
Qaisar, 73, was the first war criminal sentenced to die for violating women in 1971.
- Verdict dedicated to Biranganas, war children
- Tribunal advises govt to list, rehabilitate victims
- Rape was wartime strategy to weaken morale
“In its observation, the tribunal said rape was a wartime strategy intended to weaken the psychology of the nation,” said prosecutor Tureen Afroz after the verdict.
“In its first elaboration on the issue of Biranganas, the tribunal clearly said that the wound of rape hurts more than the wound of a bullet because the victims are compelled to live with the consequences for their whole life,” she said.
“The tribunal observed that the issue of Biranganas is always subjected to social silence. The tribunal said we need to learn to deal with this black chapter of history.”
Senior prosecutor Rana Dasgupta added that “the tribunal said these Biranganas and war children deserve proper honour and salute from the nation”.
“The tribunal has advised the government to list all the violated women of 1971 and the war children and introduce a rehabilitation scheme for them,” he added.
Prosecutor Tureen Afroz said that she on behalf of the team wished to dedicate today’s verdict to all the Biranganas and war children of Bangladesh.
Through the verdict, the International Crimes Tribunal-2 recognised the contribution of the women who sacrificed their honour and their wartime children in 1971.
Former Jatiya Party state minister Qaisar was found guilty in 14 charges, handed death for seven, life in prison for four and varying terms of jail in others. He was acquitted in two charges.
Gonojagoron Mancha on review petition
In a reaction, Imran H Sarker, spokesperson of the Gonojagoron Mancha, expressed satisfaction over the verdict. He however accused the government authorities for spending time to execute verdicts of the convicted war criminals.
“We are shocked as the government and other authorities concerned are spending time in the name of giving scope to the convicted war criminals to file review petitions against their death sentences,” he added.
Earlier, the Supreme Court said a convicted war criminal can seek review of his verdict on the appeal in 15 days since receiving the certified copy of the judgment or being informed about it.
Both the prosecution and defence can file the review petition as well.
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