Justice Watch Foundation, a rights organization group, has filed a writ petition writ with the High Court seeking a ban on the publishing of pictures or names of rape survivors and victims.
Justice Watch Foundation Executive Director Mahfuzur Rahman Milon filed the petition as public interest litigation on Tuesday, according to media reports.
The petition also sought legal action against those who exposed the identities of rape survivors and victims.
According to Section 14 of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, 2000, any information that reveals the identity of a rape survivor or a rape victim cannot be used while publishing news.
The organization in its petition urged the High Court to ensure that the law was strictly enforced in this regard.
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The home secretary, law secretary, information secretary, Bangladesh Press Council (BPC) and Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) have been made defendants in this writ.
While talking to the media, Mahfuzur Rahman Milon said although the law prohibited publishing pictures and names of those who are raped, many media outlets were publishing such information, thus violating the law. As a result, their family members faced social degradation.
“Especially a picture of an English medium school student who died recently after being raped has been published in most of the media in the country. The incident of publishing the picture has hurt us. So I decided to file the writ petition,” Milon added.
