The written verdict in the Banani double rape case makes no mention of instructing the police to refrain from accepting a rape case after 72 hours of the incident.
Following the verdict by a Dhaka tribunal acquitting five persons of rape charges on November 11, public prosecutors claimed that the judge in her observation had made the suggestion of the 72-hour timeframe to the police, sparking nationwide protests.
Lawyers and human rights activists questioned the legality of such instructions, terming the directive as unconstitutional and unjust, while Law Minister Anisul Haque said that he would send a letter to the chief justice asking for action to be taken against the judge.
Later, Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain stripped Mosammat Kamrunnahar, the judge of the Seventh Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal, of her responsibilities to preside over any cases.
However, in the 54-page written judgment published on Tuesday, the 72-hour issue was written in a different context.
The judge, however, referred to previous experience of sexual intercourse, which the High Court already ordered dropping in 2018 as it was insulting to rape survivors.
Because of filing of the case after an extended period of time, no evidence of sexual violence was found. If the medical examination is done within 72 hours (as in many cases the doctors have given their opinion) and if the evidence is found in the forensic examination, then it is considered as an important document in a rape case, the judge said.
Regarding the Banani rape case, the judge mentioned in the written judgement that the veracity of the incident could not be ensured due to lack of evidence as the case had been filed 38 days after the incident.
The court acquitted all the five accused charged with the reported rape of two private university students at an upscale hotel in the capital’s Banani area in 2017.
Ahmed Shafat, his friend Shadman Sakif, Nayeem Ashraf alias Halim, Shafat’s driver Billal and bodyguard Rahmat Ali were acquitted as the charges brought against them had not been proved, the court said.
People present in court, including this correspondent, heard the judge instructing the police to refrain from receiving a case if a rape victim came to the police station after 72 hours of the incident.
“Semen” cannot be traced after 72 hours," the judge said while pronouncing the verdict in the case.
Nothing in the medical report indicated that the two had been raped, the judge said, criticizing the police for being “overzealous”.
The accused had consensual physical relationship with the women, the court observed, adding that the investigating officer of the case had pressed charges against the five accused despite a lack of evidence.
While reading out the verdict, the judge said: “You are saying that this case is an important one but I don’t think so. To us [judiciary], every case is important. In this case, nothing was found in the medical report and the doctors could not submit any proof [in favor of rape].”
The court said that the victims in the case were not credible.
The complainant filed the case against Shafat and four others after being provoked by Faria Mahbub Piyasha, former wife of Shafat. In this case, the complainant came to the police station 38 days after the incident, the judge mentioned.
According to the medical report, both victims were already accustomed to sexual activity. The IO pressed charges against the accused unnecessarily.
“This has wasted the court's 94 working days.” The court could have used the time to proceed with other cases, the judge said.
On July 13, 2017, the court started the trial through the framing of charges against the five accused in the case.
Two private university students were reportedly raped in the Raintree Dhaka hotel at Banani in the capital in 2017. Later, one of the victims filed the case with Banani police station on May 6, 2017.
Police submitted the charge sheet in the case on June 8, 2017.
According to the charge sheet, Shafat and Shafat’s friend Nayem Ashraf raped the two victims in two rooms in the hotel at the end of a birthday party, to which the victims were invited, on March 28, 2017.
Shafat’s driver Billal filmed the incident and bodyguard Rahmat Ali warned the girls not to speak about the incident while Shadman Sakif refrained from informing the hotel authorities and the police of the rape incident.
