Eighty citizens on Sunday demanded a judicial inquiry into the trial process at a court that in a verdict acquitted the five accused, including Apan Jewellers owner’s son Shafat Ahmed, in a case of raping two university students at Raintree Dhaka hotel in the capital’s Banani.
On November 11, Dhaka Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-7 judge acquitted the accused in the rape case filed in 2017.
She in the verdict also advised the police not to record such a case if it was not reported within 72 hours of the occurrence.
In a statement, the citizens criticised the verdict, saying that the court’s observation that the victims should not be believed as they had sexual experiences was tantamount to victim blaming and went against a High Court directive.
They said that the verdict would encourage more violence against women.
They also called for making judges more skilled to protect the rights of citizens with correct and timely training.
Dhaka University professor emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury, academics Akmal Hossain, Anu Muhammad and Asif Nazrul, rights activists Badiul Alam Majumdar and Shaheen Anam, Bangladesh Protibondhi Foundation’s clinical neuroscience centre director Professor Naila Zaman Khan and rights activists Hamida Hossain, Farida Akhter, Meghna Guhathakurta, Nur Khan Liton and Rahnuma Ahmed, among others, signed the statement.
They also criticised the tribunal for its advice to the police not to record any rape case if the victim could not report the crime within 72 hours.
The law ministry on Sunday attached the judge with the ministry from the tribunal.
