Bangladesh Law Minister Anisul Haque has said that the government is going to enact a new law very soon to ensure the safety and confidentiality of witnesses who testify in any case.
The Law Minister said that the government is going to take this legal initiative in the context of hearing the incidents of attacks on the minority community.
Lawyers and human rights activists in Bangladesh say that in many cases of incidents of attacks on minority communities, the trial is not completed due to a lack of witnesses.
That's why they have been demanding for a long time to enact a witness protection law.
Commitment to bring law soon
Bangladesh's Law Minister Anisul Haque told the BBC that the process of trial in cases of attacks on minorities is often lengthy and sometimes they are not even decided, one of the main reasons for this is the lack of witnesses.
Therefore, the government is going to make a new law to ensure the protection of witnesses.
Law Minister Anisul Haque said that steps have already been taken to make such a law.
But the issue of hearing such cases has resurfaced in the wake of communal violence and attacks in various parts of Bangladesh following the incident of the Quran being found at the worship pavilion in Kumilla on 13 October.
Law Minister Anisul Haque said, "When such attacks happen, it is that witnesses are afraid to testify without fear. That is why we had already taken steps to enact a witness protection law. Now by making this law, we will implement it very soon.
"There will be a system to provide security to the witnesses. And if anyone misbehaves with the witnesses, then it will also be considered as an offense and there will be a provision of action against the person doing so."
The Law Minister said, "One more thing - in the law, arrangements will also be made to maintain the confidentiality of the witnesses."
In 2015, the Supreme Court in Bangladesh directed the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Law to take initiatives to ensure the protection of witnesses.
At that time, it was mainly directed to make laws for speedy disposal of criminal cases and to ensure the presence and safety of witnesses on a fixed date.
After this, the government started working on all those subjects.
Trial of communal attacks cases
A recent report by the human rights organization Ain o Salish Kendra (Law and Arbitration Centre) states that in the last nine years since 2013, there have been more than three and a half thousand incidents of attacks on the minority community, especially the Hindu community, in Bangladesh.
In these attacks, houses and business establishments of Hindus and worship pavilions and temples were attacked, vandalized, and arson.
The organization has prepared this report based on the news published in the newspapers.
Nina Goswami, senior deputy director of the Center for Law and Arbitration, said that there is hardly any case in which it can be said that "the act of justice is done", mainly because in most cases people testify. Don't even come to give.
He said, “Most of the time, in cases of attacks on minorities, the witness is a neighbor of the same family, perhaps a member of another minority family. But they are afraid to go to testify during the trial, so they do not go to testify. "
He explained, "Because they live there, they have to return there, they have to stay there. Those against whom they will speak, maybe they are their neighbors, maybe they are influential. That's why people don't go to testify out of fear." "
In such a situation, human rights activists have welcomed the government's initiative to make a new law.
Human rights activist Sultana Kamal believes that not only will the government make a law in this matter, but it will also have to be ensured that the law is implemented.
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