Over 150,000 cases of women and child abuse are currently pending across country, putting immense pressure on the legal system. Judges are burdened with handling an average of 1,500 cases each, while also managing thousands of additional cases in the Children's Court and the Human Trafficking Tribunal.
As rape cases surge, legal experts have called for faster trials, with some pushing for legislative reforms to expedite the process. However, they argue that simply amending the law will not be enough. The real challenge lies in reducing the caseload in existing tribunals and improving the infrastructure and support available to judges.
According to the statistics of the Supreme Court's Records Branch as of December 31, 151,317 cases of women and child abuse are pending. Of these, 20,183 cases are at the inquiry and investigation stage.
In addition, the number of cases suspended by the High Court is 1,607. Of these cases under trial, 32,972 cases have been pending for more than five years. The judges of the Women and Child Abuse Prevention Tribunal are responsible for the children's courts and human trafficking cases.
As of December 31, 42,569 cases and 5,219 cases of human trafficking are pending in the children's courts, according to the statistics of the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed is also thinking of reducing the case load in the Women and Child Abuse Prevention Tribunals.
He has expressed his intention to establish an independent children's court to separate the trial of child crimes from these tribunals. A letter in this regard was sent to the Law Ministry from the Supreme Court on Thursday.
The letter said that if an independent children's court is formed, the pressure of pending cases in the Women and Child Abuse Prevention Tribunal will decrease. On the other hand, judges have called for the formation of at least 200 more tribunals to speed up the trial of women and child abuse. The judges' organization, the Judicial Service Association, made this call in a statement last Friday.
The statement, signed by the organization's president Md Amirul Islam and Secretary General Muhammad Mazharul Islam, said that the existing Women and Child Abuse Prevention Tribunals in the country are not able to do their expected work due to various reasons. Considering the pending cases and reality and in the interest of speedy trial of violence against women and children, it is urgent to immediately form at least 200 more 'Women and Child Abuse Prevention Tribunals'.
The statement also called for the formation of separate children's courts and human trafficking crime prevention tribunals, removing additional responsibilities from the Women and Children's Violence Prevention Tribunal in the interest of ensuring the safety of women and children and speedy trial of committed crimes.
The president of the human rights organization Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, Manzil Morshed, a senior lawyer at the Supreme Court, told Bangladesh Pratidin, “A wrong policy of the government is that we told the judiciary to complete the trial within a week. And the trial ended. The trial is not like that. A judge must go through many steps including depositions, testimony, and interrogation to reach a final decision. The globally accepted policy in criminal trials is that even if a criminal is acquitted, no innocent person can be sentenced.”
He said, “Currently, many of our judges share rooms. In many districts, there are no judges in the Women and Children's Violence Prevention Tribunal. In such a situation, the trial will not be expedited. To expedite the trial, manpower must be increased. The logistical support of the judges must be increased." Then it can be said that they will try quickly. But there will be no benefit in trying quickly by making Nidhiram Sardar, who has no shield or sword, a leader.”
The senior lawyer said that no government is giving a hand. Yet, to increase popularity, they are talking about trials in seven days, 15 days. Trial must take place, but that trial should be fair. There is no room for showing emotion in the trial. Even a judge has a responsibility to the creator. If the state does not make a grand plan for this judiciary, then there is no room for these trials to be done quickly.
(Translated by Tanvir Raihan)
