Combating Hatred Attack on Social Media

Posting hatred comments and victim blaming after any incident specially in case of sexual crime against women have emerged vastly on social media particularly on facebook in Bangladesh nowadays. Often many people not only put their irresponsible comments publicly rather they spread hates among the community which may even instigate someone to do crime subsequently.

However, social media activities have been increasing enormously in recent couple of years in the country and a huge population from all classes of the society are being accustomed to operate it regularly. Not all are equally conscious to cross check the credibility of that detested comments or status posted by someone else. Sometimes, these insensible users also make it viral by sharing those kinds of posts without considering anything. Here lies the great danger of social media in a society like us. Hence, there is every possibility to bring disorder into the society; if the person who first put that sort of things on social media is not conscious about the consequences of his/her act.

However, as the spectrum of social media is increasing every day, hence it is not always practicable to monitor each comment and post every time. In addition, some incognizant people may post it without having any malice in mind and without knowing anything. Nevertheless, law enforcement agencies must be conscious in handling the trend to spread hate attacks and victim blaming after the happening of an incident. We only observe their vigilance when it came against the government and regrettably notice cases and other legal actions against free thinkers and bloggers instead of smear campaigners.

However, undoubtedly there are some people who intentionally not only spread hate on social media but also circulate their extremist views in various forms. Apart from instigating extremism, there are a lot of extremely offensive Youtube videos which contain speeches against equality of women in every sphere of life.

Nonetheless, one may argue that, we have constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression and social media account is it holder’s private place to express opinion. Obviously, everybody has their personal view and s/he can operate his/her social media account according to his/her own wish unless it brings some harm to others. One in no way can spread hate or extremism for the sake of freedom and privacy.

Moreover, freedom of expression is neither unconditional nor unlimited both nationally and internationally. That very constitution which enshrined freedom of expression as a fundamental right itself inserts at least eight restrictions in exercising that right. Conversely, Article 19 of the International Covenant on Social and Political Rights (ICCPR) which ensures freedom of opinion and expression globally also has provision to constrain that right subject to certain restriction imposed by law.

Nevertheless, if anybody do any crime after getting inspiration from a hate campaign on social media then the person who first posted it or from whom that person came to know it would be liable as abettor. As according to section 107 of the Penal Code ‘a person is said to instigate another when he incites, urges, encourages, provokes, counsels, procures or command him to do something’. It is worthy to mention that the abettor will be responsible equally like the actual offender. Thus, it is evident that there is lawful way to combat these online campaigners.

Additionally, the much criticized section 57 of the Information Communication Technology Act, 2013 has provision against these kinds of propaganda and intentional hate campaigns to destabilize the society and to instigate crime as it says that a person commits a crime when he or she intentionally publishes or broadcasts something which is false and obscene by reading, watching or listening to the material in a particular condition such that a person may be inspired to do something which causes defamation, undermines law and order or creates a possibility of doing so, distorts the image of a person or the state, hurts people's religious sentiment or creates the possibility of doing so, or instigates people against a particular person or a group and maximum punishment of which is imprisoned for 10 years along with a fine of Tk 1 crore. In addition, the proposed Digital Security law also has similar provision to deal with the situation arising on online.

Therefore, this is high time to combat intentional online smear attackers legally and designated stakeholders must not be ignorant to stop hate crime on online immediately.

Published on the Law & Our Rights page of The Daily Star at page 12.

Laws Should Benefit All

The young girl named Zakia Sultana Rupa was raped and subsequently killed brutally by some transport workers. After 173 days of committing these heinous crimes, four culprits of total five got capital punishment and another got seven years rigorous imprisonment along with one lakh taka fine from the subordinate court on 12 February.

In the verdict, the court ordered to handover the fined amount and the bus used in this incident to the family of the victim. This is also an exceptional initiative by the court. Although there are instances of receiving compensations but the initiative of giving the bus used in these rape and murder case is rare. However, it is not possible to understand the reason behind the court’s decision at this stage without reading the copy of the judgment. Nevertheless, the strict liability principle of law imposes an obligation on the employer to take responsibility of the employee(s) sometimes and the court may consider this principle although there is doubt whether the decision will remain the same in appeal.

It is undoubtedly praiseworthy that the concerned agencies finished all the trial procedures of these horrific crimes within six months from the date of the incident and gave such exemplary punishments to all the perpetrators. The incident in brief for those whose memory has become gloomy: Rupa was a law student apart from doing a job as well in Mymensingh. On the night of the incident, she was returning to Mymensingh by Chaya Paribahan after attending the teachers’ registration examination in Bogra. In the meanwhile, when all other passengers of the bus got off, Rupa was first raped by the transport workers at Kalihati of Tangail and later the criminals confirmed her death and left the body in the forest of Madhupur. Subsequently, police recovered an unidentified body and following an autopsy, the body was buried. Reading the news in the media, Rupa’s relatives went to Madhupur Police Station and identified her with photographs. Later, police arrested all the five accused and they confessed their guilt under section no. 164 before the magistrate.

Rupa’s rape and murder were very much similar to the Indian ‘Nirbhoya’ incident. Like in India public opinion was raised against this heinous crime especially in social media; everyone was seeking fair trial urgently. And finally, we are fortunate enough to see a speedy trial which is rare in the context of Bangladesh. However, there are many impacts of the quick trial in a society. Before forgetting the pains and sufferings of a victim, it would give a message that criminals will never go unpunished. In addition, the relatives of the victim may feel relaxed by placing some relief to the permanent wound of their hearts. Not only justice must be done, but also it must be seen to be done.

Indisputably it can be said that after Rupa’s rape and murder, the working women and others travelling by the public transport at night were highly concerned about their safety. In our country, women are constantly subject to sexual harassment in public transports even in the daylight; whereas this incident threatened their security outside the home. However, in India, not only mass people but also the administration and the policy makers realised very well about the necessity of changing the law. Consequently, in 2013, they formed a committee under the leadership of former Chief Justice J.S. Verma, to reform the rape-related laws. Most of the recommendations of that committee were implemented in India as well.

Regrettably, our policymakers have not yet got this message that we are also in the same position to reform the obsolete colonial law after so much brutal rape and killing incidents including against the infants. The definition of rape enumerated under section 375 of the Penal Code, 1860 itself is faulty where rape can only be committed by penile penetration to the vagina without having consent. This more than hundred and fifty years old definition of penile-vagina rape is no longer enough to cover the crime sufficiently. Moreover, in this modern era, marital rape is no more exempted from being punished in any civilised country of the world. Like us, there is also no existence of unscientific “two-finger” test to prove the rape. Nor there is any attempt to questioning the character of the victim during the trial to disprove the offence.

India brought about massive changes after getting recommendations from the Verma committee to deal with the offence of rape properly. In order to define correctly, they even placed the word “sexual assault” instead of using “rape”. Now, the offence is no longer limited to women only rather they also included children as well and widen the ‘penile-vagina’ rape to penetration by any object and any extent to the vagina, anus or mouth. Further, following the recommendations of the Verma Committee, the Indian government took initiatives to dispose of these kinds of sensitive cases speedily.

However, according to our current law, there is no way of being victims of rape for male children. Furthermore, we do not categorise rape depending upon the gravity of the crime. We do not have any special provision for pregnant-women rape, gang rape, rape in police custody, rape of patients in the hospital or rape of an employee by a government official by using his official capacity whereas each of these crimes has different significance and requires different levels of punishment.

We all are very happy because of the exemplary trial of Rupa rape and murder case. However, in this case, the self-proclaimed offenders are belonging to the marginalised section of the society. They might not have been able to delay the judgment or bias the proceedings. After the rape and killing of Shohagi Jahan Tanu of Comilla on 20 March 2016, the country also observed massive protest to claim justice for Tanu. But the police are still struggling to submit charge sheet against the perpetrators. Similarly, after the killing of the famous journalist couple Sagar-Runi, many influential journalists led the movement, but due to some unknown reasons the criminal(s) are not brought to justice yet.

Recently, two indigenous sisters have allegedly been raped in the hill tract area. Subsequently, they have been disappeared suddenly from the hospital and police have denied taking their case from the very beginning. But each and every citizen of this country belongs to the state and everybody has equal rights to get justice immediately irrespective of his/her identity. We do not only want to see speedy justice if the criminal is not wealthy or influential but also want justice to be equally applicable to all effectively.

Published on the daily Sun as Sub-Editorial on 17 February 2018 at page 6.
Published on The Asian Age as Op-Ed on 17-02-2018 at page 9.
Published on The New Age as lead Sub-Editorial on 19 February 2018 at page 8.
Published on the Daily Observer as lead Sub-Editorial on 19 February at page 6.

Denied Property Right of Transgenders in Bangladesh

SOURAV AND HUSSAIN

Social convention says there are two types of people based on their chromosome and genitalia: men and women. Charles Darwin’s writings on sexual selection reaffirms, only these two sexes exist for the purpose of reproduction. But in fact, various cultures have long recognized members who buck the biological binary. These people are neither man nor woman; or both; or people with male body and female behaviour or vice versa. Today there are many populations with alternative identities, such as hijras in South Asia, kathoeys in Thailand, and muxes in Mexico. Surprisingly, there also remains state like Iran that does not recognise alternative genders and legalise sex reassignment surgery.

Though the concepts of human rights and equal rights have been a matter of 20th century, only recently has the fight for legal recognition and respect of a ‘third category of gender’ along with male and female gender has begun to bear fruit. The terminology not only categories itself as third but also makes a superiority and inferiority between the rest two genders identity. From ancient Greece to digital Bangladesh, the political, cultural and legal emergence of a complex, controversial term, ‘third gender’ has not been so easy. 

However, ‘Hijra’ or mostly male to female transgenders have a long history in South Asia.

The saga of plights of hijras, a community that includes intersex people – those born with both male and female biological traits, transgender people – those whose gender identity does not match their sex assigned birth, eunuchs, unix and even cross-dressers have a long history in this region which got legal shape by enactment of the Criminal Tribes Act, 1871 during the colonial era. This piece of legislation tagged them as genetically criminal which ultimately condemned the dignity of transgender people, humiliating them in social echelons and consequently forcing their family to separate them form society. Eventually they had adopted begging, prostitution and other questionable professions for their survival. This Act was repealed in 1949 but exploitation and discrimination towards them continued. 

On this note we should remind ourselves, the Nepal Supreme Court (2007) was the first in this south-east Asia region to officially recognise the third gender people. At least 10,000 hijras currently live in Bangladesh, according to national statistics, but the number can be 10 times higher. They have had the right to vote since 2009. In November 2013, the government announced the recognition of "hijra" as a third gender category in all national documents and passports. But no progress has been made so far to ensure the rights of the “third gender” citizens of Bangladesh. Even severe allegations rise from them that basic rights like access to public toilets and burying after death are also being denied due to the only reason of their unique gender identity.

Various rights groups are continuously pressurizing the stakeholders to eliminate the social stigma towards transgender community and ensure equal civil rights to merge them within the mainstream. Like many other basic rights, transgender people are also deprived from inheriting property. However, the much-needed discussion on right to inherit property of a transgender person is highly neglected in this territory. Alike most south Asian countries, also in Bangladesh being biologically non-binary, i.e. neither male or female, is socially considered to be a "gender disorder", hence at the birth or early childhood, most of the parents get rid of their transgender babies which also in the long run influence to form a mentality in both parents and transgender children that s/he is not a part of that family, hence not entitled to inherit property.

However, by national law none can be deprived of getting his/her ancestral property due to their gender identity only. We should be mindful of the fact that the principle of equality and non-discrimination along with human dignity and social justice has been incorporated under the Constitution of Bangladesh. Moreover article 27 guarantees 'equality before law' and 'equal protection of law' while article 28 prohibits any discrimination only on the grounds of sex, gender, race, place of birth, religion etc. Rather this apex law of the soil, empowers government to take special initiative in favour of underdeveloped and marginal people. Hence denying right to inherit property from family on the basis of purely generic non-conformed gender identity is a clear violation of constitution, the supreme charter of the land. 

Depending on the type of law the state has, Inheritance law governs the rights of a decedent's survivors to inherit property. However, the share of property is highly dominated by gender identity of each person according to religions which are also discriminatory. Nonetheless, State cannot deny one’s basic rights to inherit property by alleging the absence of provision in religion merely. If the religion is silent on this point, then the State must take initiative to fulfil its constitutional obligation not to differently treat anyone and to ensure equality among it's citizens. It would be erroneous to forget that every human has right to choose his/her gender identity and the State cannot discriminate anyone based on such issue.

However, in 2014, the Law Commission of Bangladesh has recommended the Government to legislate the draft Elimination of Discrimination Act which is under active consideration of the government now. The draft includes discrimination against any individual and community and the grounds for discrimination are religion, faith, community, race, caste, custom, culture, occupation, ethnic originality, gender (including transgender), sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, marital status, place of birth etc. It suggests punishment for creating obstacles in getting inheritance property rights up to ten years imprisonment or ten lac taka fine or with both. Regrettably we have yet to notice any development regarding upholding rights of third gender community while government shows its concern to eliminate discrimination from the society.

In addition, neither any of the law having force in the country prohibits transgender persons’ from inheriting property nor any religious practice banned them from getting property. Rather both the national law and religious rules remained long silent on this matter. Our conservative society has only argument in hand that there is no precise provision of distribution of property to the transgender or Hijra in religion, but this cannot be an acceptable argument to snatch away individual’s such significant basic rights with huge monetary value. 

Therefore, the State must come forward to uphold a legitimate right of a community and must arrange a mechanism to ensure their property right. It's worth mentioning here that in December 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered that the government shall officially recognise a separate gender for Pakistan's hijra community, which includes transgendered people, in much discussed Khaki v Rawalpindi case. The same court also ordered the authority to take effective initiative for non-binary citizens' right to inheritance, education, marriage, registration for identity, voting etc. Besides this, in August 2017 two bills aimed at achieving equal rights for the transgender community have been tabled by Pakistan’s National Assembly. The bills seek to safeguard the rights of trans people “as par with other citizens and residents of the country” by amending the Pakistan Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2017 has also been introduced. The proposed legislation would make it illegal for transgender people to be denied of property inheritance, education, and access to housing. The law, if enacted, would also forbid anyone from harassing or discriminating on the basis of gender identity.

Therefore, this is high time for Bangladesh to legislate a new piece of law to ensure their equality, all sorts of rights including right to inheritance of property and to eliminate exploitation and discrimination from every sphere of their life in order to facilitate social acceptance of this community and access to State provided social services. Additionally, in absence of any religious edict the legislature may make mandatory provision for the parents to gift or make a will of certain portion of property for their transgender children.

MR. SOURAV IS PURSUING LLM IN INTERNATIONAL ENERGY LAW AND POLICY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF STIRLING, UK. He is also an Assistant Professor & Coordinator, Department of Law, Dhaka International University, Dhaka, Bangladesh; Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh; Legal Researcher & Activist. His personal blog is: www.legalviewsofsourav.blogspot.com and facebook profile is: raisul.sourav

MS. HUSSAIN IS A BARRISTER AT LAW (THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF LINCOLN’S INN). She is also an Advocate at Dhaka Judges’ Court, Legal Researcher and, Equality and Human Rights Activist. Her personal blog is: www.farzanashumona.co.uk and facebook profile is: farzana.shumona

Published on the Young Observer of the Daily Observer on 18 January 2018 at page 8 & 9.

The Culture of Higher Education in the UK

United Kingdom (UK) is one of the major destinations for our higher education since colonial period. We all know prominent figures like Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Michael Madhusudan Dutt and many others went to the UK from this region for their higher education and career. At that time, people returned from the UK after ending their education were called as “Bilet Ferot” which dignified their social status. Still, the trend remains the same due to world-class education, high quality of graduates, good employability rate, standard research, famous teachers including Nobel laureates, top-ranked universities etc.

Apart from these, the overall educational environment distinguishes UK from Bangladesh. One can get real flavor of education from here which we don’t usually get in our country due to many factors. However, during my short stay in the UK for higher educational purpose, I noticed some unique characteristics of their higher education. Nevertheless, those may be negligible in the eye of others but all of them contributed to reach today’s standard together. Let I share some of my academic and non-academic experiences of UK’s higher education.

Students’ Union: Each and every universities of UK must have a students’ union. It is the rule to set up a university and they can’t imagine a university without having students’ union activity. There is no formal political activity inside the university, but the students would be able to uphold their interest through the union. Students’ union is mainly responsible to represent students in decision-making process. Every year there will be an election to elect the executive body. The union generally negotiates to protect the interest of the students with the university. In addition, they also operate various surveys about the services of the university and the union as well. Often, they organize various skill development programmes for the students. There are also union shops where students may employ as a part-time worker.  Further, there are various societies under the union where students can join according to their choice. There will be one annual general meeting and other meetings where general students can cast their vote to pass any resolution.

Academic Affairs: From whole semester’s class schedule to exam date, everything is well designed and preplanned in the UK. Typically most of the study materials are uploaded at the beginning of the semester on the university’s distinct learning portal. There are clear policies everywhere like exam policy, students’ leave policy, exam exonerating policy, pregnancy policy, what may constitute academic misconduct etc. Students are expected to learn the materials earlier and participate in class. Everything is well informed in advance and every opportunity is equal to all. In addition, all the examinations are not only written rather it varies on the nature of the module. However, module representatives will get formal recognition after successful completion of their responsibilities throughout the course. Apart from the teachers’ evaluation at the end of the semester, the module representative together with the module coordinator needs to prepare a students’ feedback report on the basis of the feedback given by the students and further decisions relating to improvement of that module will be taken on the basis of that.

Use of Email: Every student has official email address and all university communications will be made through that address. Additionally, every student has a personal tutor who will primarily responsible to deal with all academic aspects of that student. However, if anybody needs to consult any teacher beyond class hour, then s/he has to create an appointment with that teacher via email earlier. Unlike Bangladesh, once the appointment has been created, the teacher will maintain the schedule except any inconvenience occurs at that time. In that case, s/he normally seek apology and offer another time. Teachers are very friendly and cooperative in solving academic matters here as there are separate divisions to deal with financial, emotional and employment matters. Additionally, they are very timely and responsible in class.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is regarded as serious academic misconduct and punishment of which may range from warning to expulsion from the university depending on the gravity. All academic works must be tested by plagiarism detecting software before submission.

Accommodation: There are two types of accommodation i.e. on campus and off campus run under the university authority. These accommodations can also be divided into many categories e.g. undergraduate accommodation, postgraduate accommodation, family accommodation, male, female, mixed, non-alcoholic, non-smoking etc. However, male and female can reside in same house in UK students’ accommodation. The living environment is very quiet and calm, and none can create any nuisance that may disturb others. If anyone makes any complaint or if anybody infringes any condition like smoking in the room, late night party without authorization, living with guest etc. then the authority will take action which may lead to cancellation of accommodation. The houses are furnished with furniture and necessary electronic machineries including washing machine, refrigerator, microwave oven, vacuum cleaner etc. Each room is allotted to one student only for a fixed tenure according to course duration. So, there is no scope of stay beyond. However, accommodation services often conduct survey about the satisfaction of the resident and response reasonably while making any complaint to them.

Thanks and sorry: You shall listen these couple of terms so many times in a day in the UK. That is why they are regarded as most civilized nation all over the world. Everybody will tell you thank you after every event and if somebody is not able to assist you, s/he will start the sentence with I’m wondering/I’m afraid instead of directly saying you sorry. Moreover, in that event, that person approaches you in such a way that you’ll rather feel embarrass for his/her inability to do so. Another interesting thing is when someone enter into a room and sees you are coming to that room, s/he will keep the door open until your entrance. This is a normal courtesy to them.

Harassment: The university takes any kind of harassment including bullying, sexual harassment, racist uttering etc. very seriously. Both the university and union are doing survey on it regularly and these are handled very sensitively. That is why no teacher is allowed to involve with any kind of emotional relationship with the students during their studentship. Likewise, students are also not allowed to take part in any kind of violent activity. However, pet and kiss are common phenomena in this country. Any person normally can kiss his/her loving one anywhere.

All these little attributes together contribute to enhance the quality of higher education in the UK and still they can attract the students around the globe to go there. Nevertheless, higher education is also a big business there, hence they are very conscious to maintain the standard.

 Published on the Daily Observer (Young Observer) on 11 January 2018

Write a Conclusive Conclusion

We all need to write essay, article or at least need to answer question in exam. It is undebated true that every write up has a conclusion as everything has an end. However, writing a convincing conclusion is not always an easy task. Usually conclusion portraits your finishing thoughts on that particular matter and it is very significant to present an ending with a vibrant writing. Moreover, final part is also your last chance to make an impression to your reader(s). Hence you should know how to write an attractive conclusion. Although there is no formula rather it’s your skills and creative way to give a satisfaction to your reader.

Often people struggle to write a definite conclusion and it becomes weak while losing its track due to many reasons including repetition, equivocation, go off on a tangent, take on an afterthought, introduction of a new thought and so on. However, many people like recommend some actions to be done along with the conclusion. There is no wrong with that, but recommendation portion must be separated from the conclusion as both have individual significance.

As there are too many ways to go wrong, hence you should always be cautious in drawing your conclusion. So, making of a clear-cut plan is very important. Think how can you give a clear picture of your write up to your reader. Frequently, people are only reading the introduction and the conclusion to get a conception at the first instance. Hence, you should be steady in concluding your thoughts as usually we are doing hurry at this stage due to stress, time constraint, lack of thoughts etc. That is why, think about the ending all through the writing and if possible, provide a foreshadowing where necessary. This will assist you to provide a sense of natural conclusion rather than implemented one. Instead, you can through a question at the starting and can put your final decision at the ending.

Moreover, it’s a good technique to terminate by shedding some light of hope in your conclusion. In addition, you can invite further thinking on the issue from your reader at the finishing. Alternatively, you can something to be inquisitive to explore further on the sector. Otherwise, you can put your judgment or concrete decision if the nature of the essay ask that. Actually, it is mainly the nature of your write up which will ultimately tell you what need to be done at the conclusion. Therefore, make yourself clear earlier in this regard.

However, your ending must match your purpose of writing and it should be in proportionate to the rest of the work. Nevertheless, it would be a worthy way to invest your time to read some notable conclusions from a writer’s perspective that you like most to learn how to write a good conclusion. Deeply look into the way they followed to finish. Then you would be able to think best way to rap your thoughts in more conveniently. Nonetheless, still I do a lot of mistakes in drawing a decisive conclusion; hence my final advice to you: try to learn from your errors. Interestingly, I’m going to finish my this write up by giving you some suggestions what should you do and what should not do in writing a better conclusion instead of sketching a good conclusion!

What should do:

Use new language instead of what you already using in your work;

You should also show critical thinking skills by reflecting on the significance of what you’ve written in a new light;

Leave the reader to consider the larger implications of your argument;

Try to make a relationship between introduction and conclusion. What you are saying to your reader at the beginning and what actually we are doing.

What should not do:

Conclusion is more than a summary;

Do not call for a different thing in your conclusion;

Do not make it irrelevant by losing coherence with other parts.

[The writer acknowledges different sources of information with gratitude.]

Published on the Young Observer of the Daily Observer on 4 January 2018.

Enforced Disappearance: Dissolution of Right to Life in Bangladesh

The incidents of sudden disappearances of person are increasing day by day in Bangladesh. Now it becomes very common in the country that some people are vanished from the society in a moment and subsequently none can tell any clue about them. It creates a scary environment among the dissent voices which ultimately diminish the sense of liberty from the country. However, anybody may disappear at any moment for various reasons including kidnap, abduction; even one can voluntarily conceal himself/herself for his/her personal reason. But there is a clear distinction between missing person and enforced disappearance. Enforced disappearance denotes state sponsorship and involvement with the incident whether directly or indirectly. The family members of the victims and rights campaigners of the country are triggered their allegations towards enforced disappearances.

However, right to life is a fundamental right enshrined under the constitution of Bangladesh. Right to life is not simple category rights that can be violate often what ordinarily happen in Bangladesh. Rather it is a supreme right of a person that cannot be comprised without due process and legal intervention. In accordance with the report released by the rights NGO Ain O Shalish Kendra (ASK), during 2010 to July 2017, as many as 519 people have reportedly became victims of enforced disappearance and fate of 329 of them are still unknown. Nevertheless, frequent occurrence of forced disappearance continuously disregards constitutional mandate and violates basic human right unlawfully.

In most of the cases, allegations come from dissent voices although there are some cases where no clue found behind the disappearance. Typically, alleged law enforcement agencies are denied their engagement and consequently refused to tell whereabout they are. In contrast, family members, friends, relatives or witnesses to the crime triggered their accusation to law enforcement authorities that civil dressed men arrested by introducing them as member of law enforcing agencies and using their equipment like vehicle to forcefully bring the detainee with them. However, in few occurrences, after severe family, media and right groups pressure they showed arrest of that detenue many days after their alleged detention but do not give any explanation concerning their non-appearance before such arrest. Nowadays the trend of arrest has been changed and people are being detained on their way to any direction.

Government and law enforcing authorities are not only silent to take any initiative against this massive infringement of human right but also both are very much reluctant to reveal the truth behind these crimes. It is a characteristic of this heinous offence observed earlier in other part of the world which strengthen the allegation of state involvement. However, few fortunate victims are returned from their unknown detention where the perpetrators themselves willfully left them from their secret detention. Law enforcers are also neither successful in rescuing them nor investigating the matter properly except very rare incidents like the controversial Forhad Mazhar case. Nevertheless, the returned persons are neither willing to disclose the identity of the offenders nor express their experiences during detention as they become heavily traumatized mentally and also not assured by the state about their future safety.

Nonetheless, the State is being built by the blood of the freedom fighters where we foster a dream that “the rule of law, fundamental human rights and freedom, equality and justice, political, economic and social, will be secured for all citizens”. Conversely, these frightening scenarios of enforced disappearances portrait a Bangladesh having no respect to citizen’s liberty and rule of law. If anybody breach the limit of freedom of expression or doing any activity subversive against the state, then there is mechanism to try that person but that cannot justify lost of an alive person and falling his/her family into a deep ocean of uncertainty about the fate of that person.

The Republic is bound to ensure security and safety of life and property of every citizen under the constitution. Furthermore, it has responsibility to ensure citizens fundamental rights including right to protection of law and right to life and personal liberty. The Constitution of the People‘s Republic of Bangladesh enshrined in Art. 31 that “to enjoy the protection of the law, and to be treated in accordance with law, and only in accordance with law, is the inalienable right of every citizen, wherever he may be, and of every other person for the time being within Bangladesh, and in particular no action detrimental to the life, liberty, body, reputation or property of any person shall be taken except in accordance with law”. But, by detaining any person and keeping him/her in secret detention without any due process of law, government has just grossly violated its mandate to the constitution.

In addition, Article 32 of the Bangladesh Constitution incorporates: “no person shall be deprived of life or personal liberty saves in accordance with law” whereas in case of forced disappearance, the law enforcing authorities detain without any warrant of arrest from any court of law. Even they don’t inform the ground(s) for arrest, don’t produce him before the nearest Magistrate Court and don’t provide chance to consult with any lawyer which are basic rights of an arrestee.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 prohibits government from arbitrary arresting while every forced disappearance violates universal human right to be safe from illegal arrest. Bangladesh has also acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), that prohibits the grave violations of rights highlighted above. According to Article 2 and 6 of the ICCPR, it has the obligations to ensure the right to life of its people and to ensure prompt and effective reparation where violations occur.

Under the obligation of the ICCPR, the government must ensure a fair and public trial for anyone charged with a criminal offense, and such a trial must take place “without undue delay”. It is also obliged to bring legislation into conformity with the ICCPR. Additionally, Bangladesh is a state party to the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Under the CAT, the government must ensure that any person who alleges he has been subject to torture has the right “to complain to and to have his case promptly and impartially examined by competent authorities”.

It is noteworthy that the CAT has become a source of reference for the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance as well which oblige the States Parties, to criminalise torture under their domestic laws with appropriate penalties and to eliminate safe havens for perpetrators of torture by establishing various types of jurisdictions, including criminal jurisdictions.

Furthermore, international human rights bodies have identified the elements of torture that relate to enforced disappearances and international courts are also agreed with this view. In Velasquez Rodriguez case, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights referred to Art. 1(1) of the Convention and analyzed the obligation to respect rights. The Court has indicated that the States must prevent, investigate and punish any violation of the rights recognised by the Convention and, if possible, attempt to restore the violated rights and provide compensation as warranted for damages resulting from violation.

However, we do not get any decision from our judiciary on enforced disappearance yet. Moreover, our National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is acting merely a postbox in this regard. After getting allegation from the victim’s family or in some instances the NHRC suo motu asking probe report on the matter from the Ministry of Home. However, the ministry does not reply to 154 allegations concerning extra judicial killing, enforced disappearance, custodial torture and others human rights violation yet. As a state statutory body, the NHRC must play an active role in protecting and upholding the human rights of the citizen conferred by the constitution instead of acting as mere postbox.

However, enforced disappearance is not defined in any law of the soil. Hence, it is mandatory to legislate an autonomous offence of enforced disappearance in the penal law immediately to try the crime effectively. Moreover, clear message regarding their fate or whereabouts of the victim and integral reparation to the victim not only through compensation but also through rehabilitation and satisfaction is urgently necessary. Hence, creation of an independent commission to investigate all the enforced disappearances property including the returned victims and assurance of their safety is crying need at this moment. The government must show its willingness towards prevention of this inhuman crime and must take recommended steps to exterminate all shadows of suspicion from it.

Published on the Dhaka Tribune as Op-Ed on 25 December 2017

Published on the Daily Observer as Sub-Editorial on 26 December 2017 at page 6.
Published as lead sub-editorial on the daily New Age on 16 January 2018 at page 8.

Is Universal Access to Energy a Human Right in Bangladesh?

In this modern era, it is undoubtedly true that energy becomes an inalienable part of our day to day life and we become extremely dependent on energy to run our life smoothly. Moreover, energy is crucial for overall development of the country and empowerment of the people as well. Emergences of contemporary technologies make us more energy dependent day by day. Hence universal access to energy for all is not only essential to ensure continuous spin of the wheel of development but also to enhance standard of livelihood of the nation. Despite that, The Least Developed Country (LDC) Report 2017 released by the UN on 21 November says government can’t reach electricity to more than one-third (60%) population of the country-the lowest among all the Asian LDCs whereas access to sufficient, regular, safe, reliable, affordable and diverse energy resources is key to eradicate poverty and ensure economic progress with equity and social inclusion.

Bangladesh is an energy deficient country which cannot fulfill the demand yet. Conversely, the demand is increasing every day, but the government is failed to produce and distribute expected amount of energy in precise electricity due to many factors. In addition, still its network cannot cover the whole populace of the territory. Apart from these, there are influential factors which also create barrier in getting electricity like high price, consumers’ poor economic condition etc. Although Bangladesh has taken several initiatives to increase the production of electricity over the past decade but all these obstacles collectively make a challenge for the country to reach the Sustainable Development Goals of universal access to modern energy by 2030.

However, universal access to energy is not only a human right itself rather it is greatly interconnected with other basic rights e.g. right to life, food, health, shelter, education etc.  Nevertheless, yet there is no express legally enshrined guarantee of access to energy in all its aspects by the State in this country. That does not mean the government can avoid its obligation to make energy accessible to all. Nowadays, reasonable and effective access to energy services is regarded as human right world-wide. Although there is no precise provision but the interpretation of existing legal instruments and whole notion of the constitution can oblige the State to treat it as a basic human right.

The human right to universal access to energy is also not specifically recognized in international human rights instruments adopted by different organizations. Despite that, several leading international organizations have formulated legally binding instruments referring the right to get access to energy either directly or indirectly. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948 recognizes numerous rights which are highly intertwined with access to energy and unachievable without adequate access to energy services. For example, right to standard living, right to work under satisfactory condition and even right to education are impossible to give its full meaning without proper access to energy.

Moreover, the socio-economic destination fixed by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of 1966 would be turned into only a far reaching text enumerated on white paper if you cannot establish access to energy as a right. Without ensuring access to energy how can we guarantee highest attainable standard of physical and mental health enumerated in Art. 12 of the ICESCR.

Further, energy is heavily entwined with other basic human rights and in most of the cases a pre-requisite to fulfill the other rights. Other mentionable international documents like the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the American Convention on Human Rights, the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development, the UN Declaration on the Right to Development, the Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment etc. state improvement and protection of various human rights through universal access to energy. Bangladesh is a state party to many of these conventions and thereby bound to fulfill all the obligations imposed by them.

However, if we now turn our attention into national level then we can notice that the long run dream of the nation to be “Sonar Bangla” seeds in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh would not be achievable without ensuring adequate access to energy to all. Both the fundamental principles of State policy and the fundamental rights chapters of the constitution contain provisions which are heavily dependent on universal and effective access to energy. Art. 15 of the constitution entails a number of rights essential for the realization of the right to an adequate standard of living, including access to adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement in living conditions. All these rights are interrelated with easy access to energy in any way.

The same article also imposes responsibility on the State to ensure decent work condition which is inalienable with proper access to energy. Additionally, art. 16 focuses on rural and agricultural development while universal access to energy is most effective and crucial instrument to bring positive changes in this sector. However, the present situation is highly discriminatory while half of rural population has no access to electricity. On the contrary, according to the UN LDCs Report 2017 84% urban inhabitants get electricity albeit the rate is still unsatisfactory compared to the world average.

Nevertheless, subsequent couple of articles of the constitution again emphasized on right to education, health and environmental protection and preservation which are not at all attainable by the State without having access to energy to all.

Furthermore, article 31 deals with right to life as a fundamental right which undoubtedly includes right to livelihood as well. However, right to life enshrined in our constitution doesn’t mean right to breath and live like an animal only rather it gives a full meaning of life including right to live with dignity which was also affirmed by the judiciary in Ain O Salish Kendra Vs Bangladesh, 1999 BLD 488 case. However, Indian judiciary also played significant role in interpreting the meaning of right to life. Even they declared compensation for the violation of right to life in various cases i.e. RudulSah v. State of Bihar, (1983) 4 SCC 141; Bhim Singh v. State of J&K, (1985) 4 SCC 677; M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, (1987) 1 SCC 395; Hussain v. State of Kerala, (2000) 8 SCC 139.

Therefore, to give full meaning to life, State must take necessary arrangement to ensure universal access to energy non-discriminatorily. This is a constitutional obligation upon the State and enforceable right by the court. So, there is no scope of evading this responsibility by telling that there is no specific provision on right to get access to energy rather if we consider the whole notion of the constitution then it is evident that the aim of the constitution is to gradually enhance the standard of livelihood of the peoples of this republic.

To recapitulate, the State mechanism should look the matter of universal access to modern energy from a human right perspective to make it more inclusive. In addition, it is also mandatory to deal the issue with great intelligence for the betterment of the nation and sustainable development. As our resources are limited hence we should progressively make modern energy services available on the basis of equality and non-discrimination to the whole population including those most underprivileged.

Published on the Daily Sun on the occasion of Human Rights Day 2017 on 10 December 2017 at page 7
Published on The Independent as Op-Ed on 11 December 2017 at page 7
Published on the Daily Observer as Sub-Editorial on 11 December 2017
Published on the Dhaka Tribune as Op-Ed on 12 December 2017.