Taqbir Huda

Today marks the National Legal Aid Day, which was introduced by the government in January 2013, in an effort to increase public awareness of national legal aid services.

Although we frequently hear calls for justice whenever a grievous crime takes place, the role of public prosecutors, i.e. the very individuals who conduct criminal cases in court on behalf of the state, is seldom—if ever—discussed.

On this year’s International Women’s Day, which is being celebrated across Bangladesh and with much grandiosity in Dhaka, I want us all to think of Yasmin Ara, a young woman from Satkhira, who has been thrown out of her home by her mother-in-law a few months after losing her husband.

Whenever a violent crime like gang rape or custodial torture takes place, we are quick to demand justice for it.

On November 11, 2021, Mosammat Kamrunnahar, judge of Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal 7 in Dhaka, reportedly asked the police “to refrain from receiving a case if a rape victim comes to the police station after 72 hours of the incident” since “semen cannot be traced after 72 hours.”

Today, October 8, marks three months since the deadly Hashem Foods fire, which claimed the lives of at least 54 people. Out of those killed, at least 17 were children. Out of these 17 children, at least 11 were girls.

What were you doing on a Thursday morning when you were 14?

For almost 24 hours last week, the Hashem Food factory in Naryanganj, where hundreds of workers are employed, was up in flames.

Fifty two workers have so far been declared dead as a result of the horrific fire that engulfed the Hashem Foods factory in Narayanganj, where famous products such as Shezan juice and Nocilla spread were produced.

On June 30, 2021, the law minister announced in Parliament that the government will finally be introducing legislation to remove Section 155(4) of the Evidence Act 1872—which has long allowed defence lawyers to raise questions about a rape complainant’s character, and therefore moral police them in the name of cross examination in court.

In the early hours of Monday morning, when most of us were tucked comfortably in our beds, eight-year-old Meem lost her entire family after the speedboat she was on crashed and overturned in the middle of the Padma river, drowning and killing 26 passengers.

On Labour Day, I am reminded of 22-year-old Jewel Hossain, who in January this year, was conducting his evening shift at a polythene factory when the machine malfunctioned and the blade ripped through him and gouged one of his eyeballs out.

As we face an upsurge of Covid-19 cases, and with the national lockdown being lifted, the need to prioritise effective preventive measures has never been greater.

Today marks eight years since one of the deadliest industrial disasters in modern history killed at least 1,132 workers and injured more than 2,500 others in our own backyard.

On the afternoon of March 3, 2021, three-year-old Ruhit was playing in front of his residential building located inside the Provita Fish Feed hatchery, when he fell into a large septic tank that had been left uncovered.

In keeping with this year’s theme for International Women’s Day, I, as a legal researcher, #ChooseToChallenge how ineffectively our lawmakers have dealt with rape, one of the defining manifestations of gender inequality.

On 13 October 2020, our central law dealing with violence against women, i.e. Nari o Shishu Nirjatan Daman Ain 2000 (Women and Children Repression Prevention Act 2000) was amended for the second time since it was enacted, by an ordinance.

On October 25, 2020, a 14-year-old girl from the Kalia village in Basail upazila, Tangail, reportedly died due to excessive genital bleeding after being admitted at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

On October 13, the Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 was passed making some changes to our central law on violence against women and children.

On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court in Dhaka found three police officers guilty of custodial torture in what is the first known judgment under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act 2013.