Ensure justice for acid victims
Speakers tell Gaibandha coference
Speakers at a conference yesterday urged the government, non-government organisations and lawyers to ensure jobs and justice for victims of acid violence in order to rehabilitate them and end their economic and social deprivation.
Gaibandha unit of Brac, Acid Survivors Foundation and Manusher Jonno Foundation organised the regional conference of acid survivors at Gaibandha Zila Parishad hall room.
The speakers said though the number of acid violence victims throughout the country rose from 252 in 2001 to 370 in 2003, such acts saw a decrease with 84 victims in 2011.
The perpetrators are usually solvent and socially influential who slip past legal loopholes and continue to threaten the victims and their families. Most of these victims are poor and refrain from filing cases, they said.
Gaibandha saw 70 incidents of acid violence till date but only 19 cases were filed. Those accused attained bail and continue to threaten the victims and witnesses, added the speakers.
Moreover, only one from the 19 cases reached a verdict where each of the three accused were sentenced to 14 years rigorous imprisonment and fined Tk 50,000, said a lawyer of Gaibandha Judge Court, Anis Mostafa Totan.
The remaining cases are being delayed due to lax monitoring, he added.
A victim of acid violence, Rehena Begun, of Sadullapur upazila, said her attacker, an army personnel who is still in service, attained bail and continues to threaten her and the case witnesses.
The victims of acid violence present at the conference sought help and cooperation from all in ensuring exemplary punishment of the accused and jobs for their rehabilitation.
Acid Survivors Foundation gave each of the 19 victims Tk 30,000 as grant.
Earlier, the organisers brought out a rally which paraded the roads of Gaibandha town.
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