Trial of around 1,900 cases filed under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act has been on hold in Sylhet due to the vacant post of the tribunal judge.
Sources at the court said the post has been vacant since the its judge, Abdul Aziz, retired on January 19. The High Court recently transferred Dhaka Divisional Special Judge Abdul Rashid to Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal, Sylhet; however, he has yet to officially start at his new post, said the tribunal’s Special Public Prosecutor Advocate Abdul Malek.
In the meantime, the current District Sessions Judge Syed Humayun Azad was temporarily appointed as the tribunal judge, but he has not been able to make a headway in the tribunal proceedings due to the caseload in his own court, sources said.
Another source said the newly appointed judge is likely to join his new job this week.
Around 100 cases are filed at the tribunal every month, of which around 60-70 are tried and judgement is rendered. But since there has been no judge for the past three months, the cases under trial have been piling up, the number rising to 1,900,l sources told the Dhaka Tribune.
A tribunal counsel, seeking anonymity, claimed only one court is not enough to deal with women and children repression cases in the region, and three such courts should be established in Sylhet.
Violence against women has been on the rise in Sylhet in recent times; so has the number of cases in this regard. More and more women are taking stand against domestic violence and seeking legal help, especially since the Domestic Violence Prevention and Protection Act 2010 came into effect, several lawyers told the Dhaka Tribune.
Advocate Shirin Akhter, Sylhet division’s coordinator at Bangladesh National Woman Lawyers’ Association, said: “Before, women suffered in silence when subjected to domestic violence, but that scenario has changed. Now they resist violence against them. That is why the number of such cases has been rising.”
