Vital law reforms still not done
Lawyers and women's rights activists all had one common reaction to the cabinet's decision to incorporate death penalty for rape in the Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amendment) Bill
This was their reaction: the amendment does nothing to address the actual reforms being demanded by gender experts.
The death penalty was demanded by a faction of general public, but legal experts say that it will not solve anything.
Veteran women's rights advocate Salma Ali said, "It is just a rushed act to calm some of the protesters.
"The decision-makers should have taken the time to consult with grassroots lawyers and law practitioners who deal with such cases first-hand," she said.
Just making the law will not achieve anything without a proper guideline and unless the implementation is ensured, she added.
The Rape Law Reform Coalition, a body comprised of 17 rights organisations including Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust (BLAST) and Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), have 10 demands from the law, and the death penalty is not one of them.
The demands include changing the definition of the law to include victims of all genders, defining "penetration" to include rape using objects, banning the use of character evidence against rape survivors during trial, allowing judges to hand out punishments proportionately and as per their discretion, ensuring that courts and systems are inclusive for survivors with disabilities and enacting the witness protection law.
Currently, "rape" is restrictively defined only as penile-vaginal penetration -- although rape in reality constitutes many types of violent actions. In addition, males raping females and female children is the only recognised form of rape currently.
Also, according to The Evidence Act 1872, the complainant's character is judged so as to understand the merit of the complaint.
"For the past two and a half years, as part of the Rape Law Reform Now campaign, we have analysed over one hundred reported judgments on rape from the past 40 years and consulted all relevant stakeholders to understand what obstructs justice for rape," said Taqbir Huda, a research specialist at BLAST and a spokesperson for the campaign.
"The absence of death penalty for single perpetrator rape [without murder] under the 2000 Act has not been an obstruction to justice at all. The biggest barriers to justice for rape have been the lack of a witness protection system, the lack of gender sensitisation of justice sector actors, the lack of timely medico-legal examinations, the lack of sentencing discretion of judges and the lengthy trial periods due to overburdened judges and courts. None of these prime and actual barriers to justice for rape is addressed in the slightest by the introduction of the death penalty," he continued.
"Real change requires real reform, and real investment," the BLAST researcher added.
ASK sent a statement signed by Md Nur Khan, the secretary general of their executive committee, calling this a move that will only temporarily appease the general public.
"Since the public sentiment is against rapists, now is the time for real reform.
"The government can change the patriarchal system in which rape happens, the rape survivor is victimised, and prevented from seeking justice. A person is not born a rapist, the existing education system, political frameworks and social impunity turn him into one," the statement said.
The statement demanded that educational curriculums be reformed.
"We are not being able to ensure justice for rape even though the highest punishment is life sentence. The prosecution manages to escape through legal loopholes," it added.
"Implement the current punishment of life sentence and make sure that the perpetrator is properly incarcerated for life," said Z I Khan Panna, chairperson of ASK. Currently the life sentence punishment refers to 30 years' prison term.
"The current punishment is severe enough. Right now life imprisonment is not just the highest punishment, but also the only punishment for rape, no matter what the circumstances of the case is," said Taslima Yasmin, assistant professor of the department of law at University of Dhaka.
"Because this is the only punishment, the judges already feel the pressure of being a hundred percent sure that the complaint is valid, and they demand a lot of evidence and scrutinise it to the dot. As a result the rape complainant has to bear a heavier burden of proof than what a victim of a normal crime would have to," she added.
The death penalty would only make it harder for judges to serve justice, she opined.
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