Repressed women have been waiting for years for justice as disposal of cases filed under the Prevention of Repression on Women and Children Act are being hindered for lack of tribunal judges in the district, reports UNB. Molly Akhter (not her real name), 24, of Mymensingh district, was gang-raped in Netrakona on April 19, 2008. She filed a case with Purbadhala Police Station on April 25, 2008.
After their investigation, police submitted a charge-sheet in the case against two culprits six months later.
The case has been pending for trial since 2009 and the victim along with her parents find no respite in repeatedly moving to the court and returning home disappointed.
The Prevention of Repression on Women and Children (Amend-2003) Act 2000 prescribes disposing of the cases within six months, but hundreds of cases have been pending due to limited number of tribunals here.The Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal was set up here in 2013 for quick disposal of the cases.
The problem worsened as the post of Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal Judge has remained vacant for the last eight months causing much suffering to the litigants.
Hundreds of litigants and witnesses who come to the tribunal from rural areas in ten upazilas of the district have to go back disappointed as dates of the hearing have been postponed due to the vacancy in the judge’s post. Additional District and Sessions Judge Md Saifur Rahman has been performing the duty of the Tribunal Judge in addition to his regular ones over the period, but he has only been hearing bail petitions in this connection.