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Anand Kumar
Extremists have begun to use the fatwa (religious edict) as a major tool to
violate womens rights in Bangladesh as part of their attempt to propagate their
ideology. With the increase in the number of victims to edicts issued by
extremists, a debate has begun about the legality of the fatwa in the country.
Between 2000 and 2011, 503 women fell victim to fatwas issued accusing them
of adultery. Most of these women were from rural areas, where their crimes were
determined by influential local leaders and mullahs who, setting aside the laws
of the land, have taken upon themselves the responsibility of dictating social
and moral standards of behaviour, interpreting religion and meting out extrajudicial punishments. There have also been instances where women accused of
immoral behaviour have been raped. The latest such incident occurred on
January 31, 2011, when a 14-year-old rape victim Hena was ordered to receive
100 lashes as per a fatwa issued by a village imam, though the rapist, a relative,
was not punished. The girl fainted half way through the flogging and later died.
The legal position about issuing Fatwas in Bangladesh is not clear. A landmark
judgment issued by Mohammad Gholam Rabbani and Nazmun Ara Sultana in
2001 declared that the legal system of Bangladesh empowers only the courts
to decide all questions relating to the legal opinions on the Muslim and other
laws as in force in Bangladesh. That decision was, however, stayed by a
Supreme Court order after seven people were killed in violent clashes between
the police and demonstrators who had taken to the street against the verdict.
Subsequently, in August 2009, in response to a public interest litigation filed by
some human rights organisations - the Local Government, Rural Development
and Cooperatives (LGRD) - law-enforcment agencies and union parishads
andpourashabhas (local bodies) were directed by a High Court to take
immediate measures against extra-judicial penalties in salish (arbitration), which
has been used as a form of mediation in rural Bangladesh. The court directed
the authorities concerned to take punitive action against people involved in
enforcing fatwa against women. It also observed that infliction of brutal