Village court, an alternate dispute resolution method, has been able to garner much trust from villagers as it has been successfully settling cases in Cox’s Bazar.
Out of the 71 unions of the district, activities of the village court are going on in at least 25 unions. Hundreds of people in these unions are reaping the benefits of village courts as it saved them from the expensive and time consuming formal legal proceedings.
According to the Cox’s Bazar District and Session Judges’ Court, there are more than 65,000 cases pending at the various courts in the district. The reasons are limited number of judges and manpower, coupled with poor infrastructure. As such, the villagers have been increasingly relying on village courts.
The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives (LGRD) in 2011 initiated a project titled "Activating Village Courts in Bangladesh" (AVCB) with the support of UNDP.
Under this project, 25 unions of Cox’s Bazar stepped up the activities of the village courts. These unions are Chouduldandi, Islampur, Khurushkul, Bharuakhali, Eidgaon of Cox’s Bazar Sadar upazila, Dakkhin Mithachhari, Fatekharkul, Jowariyanala, Chakmarkul, Rajarkul of Ramu upazila, Chokoria upazila’s Chiringa, BM char, Dulahajra, Khutakhali Kakara, Bodorkhali, Teknaf upazila’s Hila, Hoyakyang, Baharchhara, St Martin, Sabrang, and Sadar, Barbakia and Mognama unions of Pekua upazila.
The rest of the unions will also gradually come under the project.
Mahitosh Kumar Roy, official of the AVCB project of Cox’s Bazar said: “A total of 4,809 cases were filed with the village courts till April 2015. 254 cases were referred from the higher courts. We have so far settled 2,586 cases, rejected 1,987 and sent 47 cases to the higher court. A total of Tk96,06,288 has also been collected for the plaintiffs.”
Deputy Director of Cox’s Bazar LGRD Abul Fayez Mohammad Alauddin Khan said there was no alternative to village courts to provide legal support to the villagers.
“The benefits of village courts are manifold. They not only take off pressure from the formal courts but also help the local representatives learn skills to run government institutions. Finally, the alternative dispute resolution methods offered by the village courts draw communities together as they work to find practical solutions to local level disputes,” he said.