Either death sentence or life imprisonment can be awarded as the highest punishment for the rape and murder of any child or woman, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
A four-member Appellate Division bench, led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, passed the judgement while disposing a writ petition.
The apex court upheld a High Court verdict that declared the sections 6 (2), 6 (4) of the Women and Children Repression Prevention (Special) Act 1995 unconstitutional and illegal. It also declared section 34 (2) of Women and Children Repression Prevention (Special) Act 2000 illegal and unconstitutional.
The provisions of section 6 (2) and section 6 (4) said if any individual or more than one person caused the death of any child or woman in or after committing rape, they shall be handed the death sentence.
On March 2, 2010, the High Court annulled those sections of the law saying it was illegal and unconstitutional to have death as the only punishment for any crime.
Attorney General Mahbubey Alam yesterday told reporters that the Appellate Division has declared the sections 6(2), 6(3), and 6(4) illegal and void. An amendment to the law made in 2000, which offers life imprisonment as an alternative punishment along with the death penalty, will now take effect, he added.
The apex court also declared unconstitutional and illegal the section 34 (2) of the 2000 act, according to which the cases running under the previous 1995 act’s sections 6 (2) and 6 (4) were supposed to be continued under the previous sections.
Asked how the cases filed under the 1995 law will now be run, the attorney general said: “We cannot say about that until the Appellate Division releases the full judgement. But personally, I think that the cases may follow the act of 2000.”
The High Court verdict was given in response to a writ petition filed jointly by rights organisation Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) and Shukur Ali, who was awarded the death sentence for violating and killing a seven-year-old girl in 1996, when Shukur himself was only 14 years old.
The death sentence ruling by a tribunal was later upheld by the High Court and also the Appellate Division.
But the BLAST and Shukur filed a joint petition with the High Court, challenging the validity of section 6(2) and the legality of Shukur’s detention.
In 2010, the High Court annulled the section of the law, but said it did not think that Shukur’s detention was illegal.
The BLAST then moved to the Appellate Division against the High Court order and appealed seeking the detention of Sukur to be illegal. Yesterday, Appellate Division accepted the appeal and scrapped three sections of the 1995 act.
Contacted, BLAST lawyer Naznin Nahar said: “As the Appellate Division has accepted our appeal, Shukur’s detention has become invalid. However, we will wait for the full judgement to be released.”
The attorney general, however, said it was not clear whether or not Shukur’s sentence would be executed until the full judgement was released.
