7 February 2003 Daily Star
Staff Correspondent
The Women and Children Repression Prevention Act will be amended to stop its
abuse and victimisation of innocent people.
As the law is very stringent, many people became victims of false cases under it, Law Minister Moudud Ahmed said in the Jatiya Sangsad yesterday, agreeing to observations by many lawmakers.
The rate of conviction in cases filed under the Act is only seven per cent, he said during the question-answer session.
Citing an example, Moudud said, in one court in Dhaka, the accused in only two
out of 177 cases filed under the Act were convicted. The accused in the rest
175 cases were found not guilty.
There are 38 special courts in the country, which try cases filed under the Act.
Replying to another question, Moudud said the government is planning to develop
a 'public prosecution service' as recruitment of public prosecutors on political
considerations will not help improve justice delivery system.
Lack of proper logistics for judges is a 'key weak point' in the judicial system, he said. "In many places judges have to share the same courtroom in two shifts in a day. We're now constructing 21 new court buildings in different districts to solve the problem."
To a separate question on delay in trial of cases, the law minister said the government is trying its best to expedite the process and has introduced speedy trial courts fort this. "A total of 1500 cases were disposed of in speedy trial courts in last nine months."
The number of under-trial civil cases is 73,187 in additional district judges'
courts across the country. The number of criminal cases is 85,997. Besides,
there are 2,92,746 civil cases pending with assistant judges' courts, he said.