Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Tuesday issued a rule upon the respondents to explain as to why the laws that allow for marital rape of women and girls aged above thirteen should not be declared to be void being discriminatory and in violation of the fundamental rights of married women and girls.
In the rule, the court also wanted to know from the respondents to explain as to why they should not be directed to take necessary action to repeal these provisions.
A division Bench of the High Court comprising Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Mohi Uddin Shamim passed the order after holding hearing on a writ petition filed in this regard. Four rights organizations, BLAST (the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust), BRAC, Naripokkho and the ManusherJonno Foundation, filed the petition on November 1.
Law Ministry, Women and Children Affairs Ministry and Home Ministry have been asked to comply with the rule.
Senior Advocate ZI Khan Panna and Barrister Sara Hossain with Barrister Jenefa Jabbar and Barrister Sharmin Akhter appeared for the petitioners, while Deputy Attorney General Nawroz Md Rasel Chowdhury represented that state.
Barrister Jenefa Jabbar, Director of BRAC Human Rights and Legal Aid Services (HRLS) programme, mentioned that that was another milestone towards achieving equality for women in private life.
In the writ petition it was mentioned that on October 25, this year, a 14 year old girl from Tangail died reportedly due to excessive genital bleeding on admission to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), just over one month after being married on September 20, 2020 to a man aged 34/35 recently returned from the UAE. According to published reports, she had been bleeding from the first night of her marriage.
The Rape Law Reform Coalition (of 17 organizations) reiterated their 10-point demand for Rape Law Reform Now and challenged the continuing prevalence of laws sanctioning marital rape, in light of the death of this child bride and considering the National Survey on Violence Against Women (2015) conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), which found that 27.3 percent of ever-married women experienced sexual violence perpetrated by their husbands during their lifetime, including forced sexual intercourse, also read the petition.
In the writ petition the organizations challenged the marital rape exception clause in section 375 of the Penal Code 1860 as depriving married women and girls (aged above thirteen) from the right to seek justice for rape by their husbands, and also related provisions, section 376 of the Code and the explanation to section 9(1) of the Nari o Shishu Nirjaton Domon Ain, 2000 to the extent that these sanction the exception.
