Convictions are hard to come by

Cases relating to women and children repression hardly see any convictions because many complainants bring false charges of dowry-related torture and killing just to get the cases tried in fast-track tribunals.

Besides, lack of evidence, out-of-court settlements and weak police investigation are reasons for such a low conviction rate, according to rights activists and legal experts.

In majority of cases, plaintiffs bring false charges of dowry-related torture so that women and children repression prevention tribunals deal with the cases instead of criminal courts, said Prof Shahnaz Huda of Dhaka University's law department, who has conducted some research on family issues.

Women and children repression prevention tribunals deal with cases in which the victims claim of torture for dowry.

Around 80 percent of cases filed under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000 (amended in 2003) are related to dowry, a judge of a women and children repression prevention tribunal said while presenting a keynote paper during the last judicial conference in December last year.

Shahnaz said a majority of cases filed under the act gets dismissed in courts as the complainants bring false charges of torture for dowry. She, however, could not say the number of such cases filed across the country.  

According to a database of a monitoring cell of the police headquarters, the average conviction rate of the cases filed under the act between 2012 and 2016 is only 3.4 percent.

The data shows a total of 93,284 cases were filed under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act during the period. Police submitted final reports in 24,216 cases and pressed charges in 68,453 cases while only 3,496 cases saw convictions.

In most of the incidents, Prof Shahnaz said, victims in a bid to get quick trial and remedy bring charges under section 11 of the act. According to the section, if a husband or his family members cause death of his wife for dowry, he or they would be given death penalty.

It mentions jail terms, including lifetime imprisonment, for causing grievous or simple injury to the woman.

“As victims file cases under this section even after being harassed or tortured for other reasons, tribunals dismiss the cases,” Shahnaz told this newspaper.

Contacted, eminent rights activist Sultana Kamal said the agencies dealing with women and children repression cases often dilly-dally in registering and investigating cases. Besides, evidence is also not properly placed before courts.

Salma Ali, executive director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA), said the conviction rate would go up if protection of victims and witnesses, compensation for victims and a strong and independent police investigation were ensured.

She also suggested increasing the number of special tribunals and appointing public prosecutors based on their skills and not on political consideration.

Saheli Ferdous, assistant inspector general of police headquarters, said in many cases parties settled their differences. Besides, a good number of cases related to dowry charges filed under this act were found false.