TRYING RAPE CASES: Cancellation of ‘evidence act’ urged

Legal experts and rights activists on Sunday stressed for the need to cancel a section of the ‘evidence act’ that allows Bangladesh’s legal system to label a rape victim ‘characterless’ and help a rapist get exonerated.
They made the demand in the launching ceremony of a report on ‘Use of Character Evidence in Rape Prosecution in Bangladesh’ organised by the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust at Bangla Academy, in the capital.
The section 155(4) of the evidence act stipulates, ‘when a man is prosecuted for rape or an attempt to ravish, it may be shown that the prosecutrix (the rape victim) was of generally immoral character.’
While presenting her research, Jagannath University anthropology department teacher, Fatama Sultana Suvra, said she had studied 244 rape cases in 10 years, beginning in 2001 where section 155(4) of the ‘evidence act’ was used.
She claimed to have found that the defence lawyers asked indecent and disgraceful questions to the rape victims to prove that the women had immoral characters.
She said she found the women victims were raped by their known males who had promised them of marriage.
In such cases, women were labeled as ‘characterless’ and the accused were acquitted.
Addressing the ceremony, Law Commission member Justice ATM Fazle Kabir said that his commission recommended the government to cancel the section because ‘there should not be any bad law like this one.’
‘A judge will only see whether the sexual intercourse was committed against the will of the woman or if her consent was obtained by putting her in a fear of death, or hurting her,’ Kabir said.
He explained that sometime a rapist resorted to tricks and enticement that he would marry her. This is how a woman may believe that the man will marry her, and gives her consent to the fornication.
He urged the judges to use their power so that no lawyer can ask any indecent or disgraceful questions to the victims.
The report suggested ensuring DNA test mandatory to identify the rapist, scrapping two-finger test of the victims and introducing modern forensic tests and camera trial.
Moderated by Amrai Pari Paribarik Nirjaton Protirodh Jote chairperson Sultana Kamal, the ceremony was also addressed by Bangladesh Mahila Parishad president, Ayesha Khanom, BLAST’s honourary executive director, Sara Hossain, Nari O Shishu Nirjaton Damon Tribunal’s special public prosecutor, Ali Asgar Swapan and Netherlands’ embassy’s sexual and reproductive health and rights affairs first secretary, Ella de-Voogd, among others.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net