Finish trial of rape cases in six months
The High Court yesterday ordered the lower court judges to take effective measures to complete trials of the cases filed over rape and murder after rape within 180 days maximum.
It also directed the judges in Women and Children Repression Prevention tribunals to hold continuous hearing of a case on every working day until the end of trial.
The HC bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur came up with a total of seven directives to accelerate trials of the cases filed under Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000 while passing orders on three rape cases.
In the directives, the HC said a monitoring committee must be formed in every district to ensure presence of the witnesses and their security at the court during the hearings.
The committee will be comprised of an additional district magistrate, an additional superintendent of police (administration), a representative of the civil surgeon and the public prosecutor of the tribunal, it added.
The prosecutor will discharge duties as the coordinator of the monitoring committee and send reports on its activities to the Supreme Court and the ministries of home and law, it also said.
The court said monitoring committees will be accountable if the state fails to produce the witnesses before the court on the scheduled days without logical reasons.
The directives also mentioned that the tribunals will recommend for departmental action against the official witnesses like magistrate, police, doctor, and other experts if they do not appear before the courts without providing satisfactory reasons and will order for halting their salaries if they feel necessary, it said.
Earlier, it expressed disappointment over the prolonged trials of the incidents of rape and murder after rape while holding hearings on three appeals filed by four accused seeking bail in separate rape cases.
The court rejected the appeals filed by accused Md Rahel alias Rayhan of Bogura and Sekandar Ali of Dhaka seeking bail in two separate cases filed over the rape of two children in March and June last year.
The HC bench, however, granted bail to accused Sarower Rubel and Emran in a similar case filed in Noakhali in October 2017.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam represented the state while Advocate Golam Akhter Zakir, Advocate Md Abdullah Al Mahbub and Advocate Marzia Zaman appeared for the accused appellants respectively.
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