‘Justice is not for the poor’: Mother of child rape survivor laments slow probe

Her family is uncertain whether she will ever be able to go to school.

"I cannot walk; it hurts when I try. Everyone else goes to school and plays in the evening. I just watch from the window. But I cannot walk and I cannot play. I do not like staying at home all the time," Mukta told Dhaka Tribune last week.

Speaking about her daughter’s health and the ongoing case, Mukta’s mother said her child had become completely silent.

“She barely eats. Sometimes she asks for something to eat, but I cannot afford it. My husband has been absent for a month; he does not even check on us. My daughter has undergone two surgeries, and another one is still pending. I do not know how to manage everything alone," she added.

Regarding the case filed over the rape, Mukta’s mother bewailed the slow pace of investigation.

She continued: “The legal and judicial system is not for us. If I could have come up with a couple of lakhs, the accused would have been caught and justice would have been served.

“We filed the case immediately after. We even saw the suspect in the CCTV footage, in a white panjabi with a beard. Yet, six months have passed, and the authorities still have not arrested him. With all the advanced systems available, is it believable that they still have not been able to apprehend the accused?"

At Banani police station, Officer-in-Charge (OC) Russel Sarwar said: "This case is no longer under our jurisdiction. The Victim Support Centre in Tejgaon took over the case early on."

The sub-inspector handling the case at the centre said that from CCTV footage, police had gotten the photo of a man who had been with the child in Mohakhali.

However, she could not specify where the rape had taken place, he said, adding that the suspect had probably driven her around in a vehicle to confuse her, making it difficult for her to recognize the location.

The current case was under further investigation by the Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, the SI said.

For further updates, Dhaka Tribune contacted Nuruzzaman, an officer from the Detective Branch, who said the investigation was still underway.

Talking about why the suspect had yet to be nabbed, he said police suspected he was not from the local area – perhaps a homeless man or street vendor.

“We have circulated his image on Facebook and other platforms to help identify him."

197 child rape cases filed in 2024

Mukta’s case is not unique. According to Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), from January to December 2024, 197 child rape cases were filed across the country.

Additionally, seven cases were lodged over child sexual abuse.

Most of these cases remain under investigation.

According to Supreme Court date, as of December, more than 150,000 rape cases were pending in courts across the country.

As many as 32,972 cases remained pending for over five years, while 20,183 cases were in their investigation phase.

None of these investigations were completed within the legally mandated 30-day period.

Even for the 131,134 cases where reports were submitted to courts, the investigations had not been completed on time.

Advocate ZI Khan Panna, chairman of Ain o Salish Kendra and a Supreme Court lawyer, attributed a recent rise in rape cases to a lack of justice.

He said another major issue was the lengthy trial process. “Additionally, the results of DNA and viscera tests take too long, often leading to the loss of crucial

evidence. These inefficiencies must be addressed."

On tackling crimes like rape and sexual violence, he added that women and child rape case trials must be expedited, calling for the establishment of a special tribunal to handle them.

New law, special tribunal in the offing

To ensure swift and appropriate justice for child rape and sexual abuse cases, the government would from a special tribunal within next week, Law Adviser Asif Nazrul announced on Thursday, after the death of an eight-year-old child rape victim from Magura.

“For the past two days, we have been discussing a new law. The initial draft has been prepared. Hopefully, by Sunday or, at the latest, Monday, we will be able to enact this law," he added.