Compensations for Rape Victims: A scheme ever elusive
As she sits on her wheelchair, eleven-year-old Setu (real name withheld) can feel the discomfort of her extra-large baby diapers and a urinary catheter leading to a collection bag.
She was raped at the age of five, in 2016, allegedly by two men over 40 years of age in her village of Parbatipur in Dinajpur. The attackers also mutilated her genitals with a sharp knife causing lasting damage to her urinary tract.
For the last five years, the minor girl has been living a painful life, dribbling urine all day long and tolerating the burning of thighs chafed from the rags her mother stuffs into her pants. The constant state of incontinence left her friendless and unable to go to school.
However, the child, who has suffered such a cruel attack, is yet to see justice done. Meanwhile, her medical bills are racking up -- bills that her fisherman father is unable to pay.
Right now, Setu waits at the national kidney hospital in the capital for a major urinary tract reconstruction surgery. On the day The Daily Star spoke to her, doctors prescribed diagnostic tests costing Tk 18,000. The sum -- just for a day's tests -- is many times over her family's monthly income.
Zeenat Ara Haque, executive coordinator of WE CAN Alliance to End Domestic Violence, estimated this round of medical treatment will cost the family Tk 4 lakh. The girl has been through two rounds of intensive medical treatments already in the last five years.
On February 24, 2021, the High Court issued a rule asking the government to explain why it should not be directed to outline a scheme to ensure compensation for rape victims.
The court issued the rule in response to a writ petition filed by an organisation called Children Charity Bangladesh Foundation. The petition presented the cases of three minor girls to argue the need for compensation for rape victims -- one of them was Setu.
The HC gave the government one week to respond.
Several months have gone by, but none of the respondents submitted any written reply to the rule, and as a result, the compensation for the three children is yet to be settled.
The secretaries to the ministries of home, women and children affairs, health and finance, chairman of National Legal Aid Services Organisation, inspector general of police, commissioners of Rangpur and Khulna metropolitan police, superintendent of police in Rangpur, Khulna and Dinajpur and officers-in-charge of police stations concerned of the three districts where the cases were filed, had been made respondents to the rule.
The two other cases include that of a 9-year-old girl who was raped allegedly by a police constable in Terokhada, Khulna, last year, while she was picking flowers. The other victim is a 4-year-old who was raped and killed last year allegedly by her neighbour who lured her with a sweet treat.
Justice has not been served in these cases too.
Deputy Attorney General Nawroz MR Chowdhury told The Daily Star that it is not mandatory for the respondents to submit a written reply to the High Court rule, and that the reply can be placed when the High Court holds a hearing on the rule.
Writ petitioner's lawyer Md Abdul Halim told this newspaper that he will seek a hearing soon. He said the pandemic affected the regular functions of the court.
Lawyer Halim hoped that a landmark verdict will come from the HC if it can hold the hearing and dispose of the rule.
"The parents of the victims are not aware of public law compensation and also are very poor … they are not aware of this jurisdiction; nor are they in a position to engage a lawyer in the Supreme Court to seek protection under the constitution," said the petition filed by Halim.
Last year, Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust analysed 44 rape cases and found that even though the court slapped the culprits in all the cases with monetary fines, the money was not converted to compensation in 93 per cent of the cases. Only three victims got compensation.
Zeenat of WE CAN said compensation for Setu -- and other rape survivors -- is one of their demands while they fight for justice.
"But we also need the court to give a verdict soon. The case has been hanging for five years," she said, referring to the case filed over Setu's rape.
A verdict was supposed to be delivered on March 31 by the Dinajpur court, but seven months have gone by with no update.
Of the two accused, one is out on bail, adding to the frustration of the victim's family.
Setu does not understand compensation, but she does understand that she is fighting a legal battle. And she demands justice.
"I want capital punishment for them," said the girl quietly, fiddling with a colouring book, serving a reminder that no amount of money can compensate for the ordeal she is going through.
Comments