Law should apply equally to all

The young girl named Zakia Sultana Rupa was raped and subsequently killed brutally by some transport workers on a moving bus. After 173 days of committing the heinous crime, four out of five perpetrators of the offence have got capital punishment while the other  have been sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment along with one lakh taka fine from a subordinate court.

In the verdict, the court in an exceptional manner ordered the people concerned to handover the mulct and the bus used in the incident to the family of the victim. Although there are instances of receiving compensation but the initiative of giving a bus or other vehicles used in raping or murdering is rare. However, it is not possible to understand the reason behind the court's decision without reading the judgment. Nevertheless, the strict liability principle of law imposes an obligation on the employer to take responsibility of the employee(s) sometimes and court may consider this principle although there is doubt whether the decision will remain the same in appeal.

It is undoubtedly praiseworthy that the concerned agencies finished all the trial procedures of these horrific crimes within six months from the date of the incident and gave such exemplary punishments to all the perpetrators. The incident in brief for those whose memory has become gloomy: Rupa was a law student apart from doing a job as well in Mymensingh. On the night of the incident, she was returning to Mymensingh by a public bus after attending the teachers' registration examination in Bogra.

In the meanwhile, when all other passengers of the bus got down, Rupa was first raped by the transport workers at Kalihati of Tangail and later the criminals confirmed her death and threw her in the forest of Madhupur. Subsequently, Police recovered her body and following an autopsy the 'unidentified' body was buried. Reading the news in the media, Rupa's relatives went to Madhupur Police station and identified her from photographs. Later police arrested all the five accused and they confessed their guilt U/S 164 before the magistrate.

Rupa's rape and murder were very much similar with the Indian social changing 'Nirbhoya' incident. Like India, public opinion was raised against this heinous crime and especially in social media; everyone was seeking fair trial urgently. And finally, we are fortunate enough to see a speedy trial which is rare in the context of Bangladesh. However, there are many impacts of quick trial in a society. Before forgetting the pain and sufferings of a victim, it would give a message that crime will never be unpunished. In addition, the alive relatives of the victim may feel relaxed by placing some relief in the permanent wound of their heart. Not only must justice be done, it must also be seen to be done.

Indisputably it can be said that after Rupa's rape and murder, the working women and others traveling by public transport at night were highly concerned about their safety. In our country, women are constantly subjected to sexual harassment in public transport even in the day light whereas this incident threatened their security outside home. However, in India not only mass people but also the administration and the policy makers were realized very well about the necessity of changing the whole rape law in India. Consequently, in 2013, they formed a committee under the leadership of former Chief Justice J.S. Verma, to reform the rape laws. Most of the recommendations of that committee were implemented in India as well.

Regrettably, our policymakers have not yet get this message that we are also in same position to reform this obsolete colonial law after the happening of so much brutal rape and killing incidents including the infants. The definition of rape enumerated under section 375 of the Penal Code, 1860 itself is faulty where rape can only be committed by penile penetration to the vagina without having consent. This more than hundred and fifty years of age definition of penile-vagina rape is no longer enough to cover the crime sufficiently. Moreover, at this modern era, marital rape is no more exempted from being punished in any civilized country of the world. Like us, there is also no existence of unscientific "two-finger" test to prove the rape. Nor there is any attempt to questioning the character of the victim during the trial to disprove the offence.

India brought massive changes after getting recommendations from the Verma committee to deal with the offence of rape properly. In order to define correctly, they even placed the word "sexual assault" instead of using "rape". Now, the offence is no longer limited to woman only rather they also included children as well and widen the 'penile-vagina' rape to penetration by any object and any extent to the vagina, anus or mouth. Further, following the recommendations of the Verma Committee, Indian government took initiative to dispose these kinds of sensitive cases speedily.

However, according the law of the land, there is no way of being victim of rape for male children. Furthermore, we do not categorize rape depending upon the gravity of crime. We do not have any special provision for pregnant women rape, gang rape, rape in police custody, rape of patient in hospital or rape of an employee by a government official by using his official capacity whereas each of these crimes have different significance and require different level of punishment.

We all are very happy because of the exemplary trials in Rupa rape and murder case. However, in this case the self-proclaimed offenders are belonging to marginalized section of the society. They might not have been able to delay the judgment or bias the proceedings. After the rape and killing of Shohagi Jahan Tonu of Comilla on 20 March 2016, the country also observed massive protest to claim justice for Tonu; but the police still struggling to bring charge sheet against the perpetrators. Similarly, after the killing of the famous journalist couple Sagar-Runi, many influential journalists led the movement, but due to some unknown reason the criminal(s) are not bring before justice yet.

Recently, two indigenous sisters are allegedly being raped in hill tracts area. Subsequently they are being disappeared suddenly from the hospital and police denied to take their case from very beginning. But each and every citizen of this country belongs to the State and everybody has equal right to get equal justice irrespective of his/her identity. We do not only want to see speedy justice if the criminal is not wealthy or influential. We want justice will be equally applicable to all effectively.


The writer is a university teacher and a lawyer at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh