The Law Commission has prepared a draft of a fresh law titled the ‘Women Repression Prevention Act, 2021’, with a view to removing the loopholes and complexity of the current law.
The modernisation of the Women and Children Repression prevention Act is indispensable to prevent violence against women in the country as the existing law seems inadequate to tackle the problems, according to experts.
Against this backdrop, the commission sent the draft with some recommendations to the law ministry in the beginning of the year, redefining sexual harassment and assault on women and provisioning for tougher punishment for rape and other forms of sexual violence against women, including girl children.
The government has not yet responded to the Law Commission’s proposal. Minister Anisul Huq said, “We will have a close look at the recommendations of the Law Commission.”
An official of the ministry said that the Law Commission’s proposal would be discussed in the ministry, but it is delayed due to current Covid-19 situation.
The Law Commission in its proposal said that a few people were convicted by four tribunals of Dhaka in the last seven years although several thousands of cases were filed for torture on women, rape and murder for dowry. But most of the accused are acquitted as it is difficult to prove allegations against them due to loopholes and complexity in the existing law. So, the overall modernisation of the law is indispensable.
The commission’s draft touches some issues that are not well defined in other places such as the Penal Code. It recommends jail for 20 years to 30 years for incident of rape although the current law, which was amended on November 17 in 2020, stipulates death penalty as the maximum sentence for rape. The amendment took place because of rising protest against a surge in the incidents of rape.
The draft, however, suggests a double jail term or life term or death sentence for a person for committing rape for the second time. Imprisonment for five years and a fine of Tk 2 lakh for an attempted rape was recommended. The existing law provides jail for 5 to 10 years for the offence. The Law Commission proposes a 30-year minimum rigorous imprisonment or any other maximum imprisonment or death sentence with a fine of Tk 5 lakh as an additional penalty following the death of a woman due to sexual assault or harassment.
Legal experts said that death penalty is not the solution for violence against women. If the law stipulates death penalty, but the criminal doesn’t face punishment, the provision is meaningless. So, ensuring justice is needed by removing loopholes and complexity in the law, said Advocate Md Kamruzzaman, a lawyer of Dhaka.
Compensation for rape victims and their family members remain elusive in the existing law, but the Law Commission’s draft ensures compensation.
Legal experts said that compensation is important for the rape cases. As per the existing law, the fine perpetrators are charged ranges from Tk 10,000 to Tk one lakh. If the judge wants, then any rape victim or her family can get this amount as compensation.
Fowzul Azim, chief research officer of the Law Commission, said that the fine is very meager. However, the collection of the compensation money by victims is a complex process. If the law is reformed, the complexity will end, he added.
The Law Commission pointed out that the rape victim’s consent was not well-defined in the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000. So, marks of physical injuries on the victims’ bodies are used to be considered as the signs in many cases. The marks of assault on a victim’s body may not exist in every case, the commission argued.
Although taking the victim’s consent by cheating is considered as rape as per the existing law, the court in many cases considers repeated intercourse as silent consent. At this point, the Law Commission recommends redefining the victim’s consent. It proposed 10-year jail term and a fine of Tk 5 lakh for raping a girl of 14 years or above even with her consent.
The commission proposes to bring any person, including the government officials, under tougher punishment with higher financial penalty for assault or rape of a victim in their custody and jurisdiction. According to the existing law, a person will get 5 to 10 years jail term with a fine of Tk 10,000 for raping a woman in police custody.
According to the draft, jail for 10 to 30 years with a fine of Tk 20 lakh will be awarded for rape by the victim’s relative, guardian, teacher or other people. Rigorous imprisonment for 10 years or 30 years with an additional Tk 10 lakh fine for sexually assaulting or harassing a woman with human parts of his body, while rigorous imprisonment for two years jail term with Tk 2 lakh as additional fine for molestation.
The existing law prescribes a jail term of 10 years as the maximum but three years as the minimum sentence and a fine for sexually harassing or molesting a woman or child.