In the wake of a wave of protests over the recent spike in countrywide rape incidents, President Abdul Hamid has promulgated an ordinance increasing the maximum punishment in rape cases to death penalty from life imprisonment.
The president inked the ordinance under his constitutional powers at his Bangabhaban residence on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs issued a gazette notification in this regard.
The ordinance will be known as Women and Children Repression Prevention (amendment) ordinance -2020. It took immediate effect.
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The Cabinet on Monday approved the draft of the Women and Children Repression Prevention (Amendment) Bill, 2020 with a provision of death penalty as the highest punishment for rape.
According to Article 9 (1) of the existing Women and Children Repression Prevention Act-2000, the punishment for rape is life imprisonment.
Countrywide demonstrations
On October 5, anti-rape demonstrations erupted across Bangladesh after video footage of five men stripping a woman naked and gang-raping her in Noakhali’s Begumganj upazila went viral on social media the day before.
The heinous incident took place at the Joykrishnapur village under Ekhlaspur union of Begumganj upazila in Noakhali on September 2.
According to Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), nearly 1,000 rape cases were reported between January and September this year, including 208 gang rapes.
