High Court Judgment to Set up Civil and Criminal Courts and Suppression of Violence against Women Tribunals in the Chittagong Hill Tracts

The High Court on 24th Februart 2008 directed the Government to set up three separate civil and criminal courts and Nari o Shishu Nirjatan Domon (Suppression of Violence against Women and Children) Tribunals in Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban Districts in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, as soon as possible, and no later than one year from the date of judgment.1

The judgment was given in a writ petition filed in 2006 by the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) and others, on behalf of the peoples of three hill districts, seeking directions upon the Government to give immediate effect to existing laws which provide for the establishment of such courts in the CHT and to implement the constitutional mandate for separation of the judiciary .2

It is hoped that implementation of this judgment will address the acute crisis regarding access to justice in the CHT. Reportedly over 3,500 cases from the three districts have been lying unresolved before the Chittagong Session Judge’s Court for many years. Hundreds of people in the Bandarban district alone have been languishing in prisons without facing any trial due to the existing backlogs and the lack of any accessible forum to hear their cases.

Background

The judicial system of the three districts which formerly comprised the Chittagong Hill Tracts — Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban – was earlier governed by the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regulation 1900, leaving the executive in control of all judicial functions. Further, no District or Sessions Judges’ Courts were ever been established in the three Hill Districts, the Chittagong-based Additional Divisional Commissioner, being an executive official, dispensing judicial functions in the cases.

Consequently, there is no separation of the judiciary from the executive relating to cases within the CHT. And the practical obstacles to access to justice are immense, with anyone residing in the CHT and requiring access to any appellate forum needing to travel all the way to Chittagong to seek justice.

Although the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2003 provided for establishing civil and criminal courts in the three hill districts and later, Section 26 of the Nari-O-Shishu–Nirjatan- Daman- Ain 2000 also provided for establishing separate Nari o Shishu Nirjaton Domon Tribunals, no steps were taken by the government to act on this legislative mandate. In the last year, despite legislative and administrative steps having been taken in the last year for separation of the judiciary from executive, pursuant to the celebrated judgment in Government of Bangladesh versus Masdar Hossain, no steps were taken to extend these steps to the CHT.

Contact Person:

Amatul Karim, Senior Staff Lawyer, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), 141/1 Segubagicha, Dhaka 1000; amatul@blast.org.bd; 01718-907729 (mobile)