The Cabinet Division has approved the draft “Evidence (Amendment) Bill, 2022” that would prohibit questioning the character of rape survivors.
The approval came on Monday at the weekly Cabinet meeting held at the Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
“A rape survivor cannot be asked any questions that involve her character or may disgrace her. The matter is up to the jurisdiction now. Whoever is questioning a rape survivor has to maintain decency,” said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam at a media call.
Law Minister Anisul Huq said: “The previous law, Evidence Act, 1872, allowed questioning a survivor’s character, but now we have withdrawn it.”
From now on, courts can order defendants and their lawyers to maintain decency while a rape survivor is on the stand, he added.
The cabinet also approved the use of digital evidence.
The cabinet secretary further noted that as the online trial of cases was enacted amid the Covid-19 pandemic, evidence and other related documents were produced online, despite the fact that the Evidence Act does not mention online or digital evidence directly.
Consequently, if any aggrieved party files a petition with the higher court, challenging the verdict of the lower court in case of acceptance of digital evidence or documents, many legal complications may occur, he said.
There was a widespread outcry after Judge Begum Mosammat Kamrun Nahar of Dhaka’s Seventh Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal acquitted all five accused in the Banani double rape case on November 11 last year.
The judge asked police to refrain from receiving a case if a rape survivor came to the police station more than 72 hours after the incident, before saying: “Semen stains cannot be traced after 72 hours.”
Judge Kamrun Nahar made the observation while passing the verdict, referring to the complainant going to the police station 38 days after the incident.
Legal experts and rights activists severely criticized the observation and said it was contradictory to the law and justice, and that it would further encourage rapists
Later, on November 14, Kamrun Nahar was stripped of her power to preside over any rape cases.
For decades, rights groups have called for amendments to the 150-year-old Evidence Act.
Section 155 (4) of the Evidence Act says: “When a man is prosecuted for rape or an attempt to ravish, it may be shown that the prosecutrix was of generally immoral character.”
According to Section 146 (3) of the act, “When a witness is cross-examined, he may, in addition to the questions hereinbefore referred to, be asked any questions which tend (1) to test his veracity (2) to discover who he is and what is his position in life, or (3) to shake his credit, by injuring his character, although the answer to such questions might tend directly or indirectly to criminate him or might expose or tend directly or indirectly to expose him to a penalty or forfeiture.”
