& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Fatwa Violence

Govt spurred to act fast

Staff Correspondent
Human RightsWatch (HRW) yesterday urged the government to immediately implement the High Court directives on ensuring that no extra-judicial punishments are given in the name of fatwa (religious edict) and social arbitration.
Since July 2010, the HC issued several orders asking the government to take measures against the unlawful practices, but the government is yet to comply with those orders, says an HRW report quoting eminent rights activists of the country.
The report, published on the organisation's website, also says quoting its local activists that the government did not conduct any campaign to make people aware of such illegal punishments though it had repeatedly been asked to do so.
Between January and May, 2011, newspapers of the country reported on 16 instances where
punishments were imposed through fatwa or social arbitration, according to the report of HRW, a New Yorkbased rights organisation.
As per the statistics of Ain O Shalish Kendra (ASK), a rights organisation of the country, 330 such incidents occurred in the last ten years.
Contacted, Law Minister Shafiq Ahmed said it is the duty of the concerned ministry to launch a campaign as directed by the HC.
"There is no legal authority vested in anyone to punish anybody. It's a violation of law and the persons involved in it must be punished," he noted.
Of the cases, the most horrifying was an adolescent girl of Shariatpur, Hena Akhter, being punished with 100 lashes in a social arbitration for an alleged affair though she had reportedly been violated. She later succumbed to injuries caused by lashing.
“These private punishments significantly harm women's and girls' lives and health,” said Aruna Kashyap,
Asian women's rights researcher of Human Rights Watch.
Following Hena's case, the HC on February 2 this year ordered the government to draw people's attention through electronic and print media to the fact that those practices are unconstitutional and punishable offenses.
On May 12, the Supreme Court reiterated that no punishment in the form of physical violence and/or mental torture can be imposed on anybody in pursuance of fatwa. It also said fatwa can be issued only by the persons educated on religion.
Hena's death exemplified the government's failure in preventing such type of violence, said Khushi Kabir, coordinator for Nijera Kori, another rights organisation.
Earlier in July last year, the HC criticised the government for its failure to protect its citizens, especially women, from cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or punishment.