Staff Reporter :The High Court (HC) Division of the Supreme Court on Sunday asked for clarification from two secretaries on adolescents’ conviction in Women and Children Repression Act. A HC bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice JBM Hassan passed the order asking for explanation from secretaries of Law and Social welfare to reply within seven days.The court came up with the order when some accused prayed for bailwith the HC convicted under the Children Repression and Protection Act. Some recent cases that took place in Dhaka, Cox’s Bazar and Rangpur, the accused are adolescents. According to the Children Act 1974, the victims who are under aged were sent to children court. But in Article 17 (1) of Children Act 2013 the provision that was not transparent. Additional District Judge and Children Repression Court-1 of Rangpur, Md Rakunuzzaman said, “In any case if the victim is child but the accused is adult, how the accused will be treated was not explained clearly in this Act.” “If the accused child is convicted the court can sentence him 10 years imprisonment or detention. But if the victim itself is child or a witness and the convicted is adolescent what would be the provision was not clear in Women and Children Repression Act 2000. The court fixed August 14 for the next hearing of the proceedings.
