Maintenance of children born out of rape: HC questions govt's inaction

The High Court today questioned the government's inaction to formulate rules under the relevant law to provide maintenance to the children born out of rape.

The court issued a rule asking the government to explain in four weeks why its inaction to formulate the rules under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000 should not be declared illegal.

In the rule, the court also asked it to show causes why a directive should not be issued to ensure maintenance of a child born out of rape in Kurigram.

The HC bench of Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice SM Maniruzzaman issued the rule following a writ petition moved by lawyers Azizur Rahman Dulu and Ishrat Hasan on behalf of the rape victim seeking necessary directives.

Ishrat Hasan told The Daily Star that a Khoir Ali from Kurigram raped the victim in 2010 and a girl was born out of the rape.

In 2021, a court in Kurigram sentenced Khoir Ali to life imprisonment in the rape case and ordered the government to provide maintenance to the child.

But, the government did not provide any maintenance to the child since no rules were formulated under the law and even the deputy commissioner of the district tried to send the child to the orphanage, Ishrat added.