The High Court (HC) on Tuesday directed the deputy commissioner and superintendent of police of Barguna to give protection to the child rape victim and her family members.
The HC bench also ordered the government to assign a social welfare officer to take necessary measures for the welfare of the child, a fifth grader whose father was found dead a day after he filed a case in connection with the rape.
At the same time, the HC bench asked the authorities concerned of the government to ensure the security of the family of Magura's child rape victim, who died at Dhaka Combined Military Hospital (CMH) on March 13 and to take necessary care of her elder sister.
The HC bench comprising Justice Farah Mahbub and Justice Debasish Roy Chowdhury came up with the orders following two separate writ petitions filed by lawyers ABM Hamidul Misbah and Syed Mahshib Hossain seeking necessary directives in this regard.
Apart from these orders, the HC bench also ordered the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to take necessary steps to create public awareness about Section 14 of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act.
It was mentioned in the section 14 of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act that the identity of women and children who are victims of violence, including rape, cannot be disclosed. If the identity is disclosed, then they will be punished with two years in prison.
Police reportedly recovered the body of the rape victim's father in Barguna town on March 12. The victim's family members claimed that he was murdered by associates of the rape accused, who is now in jail.
The deceased worked at a poultry shop in the town. His daughter was raped allegedly by one of their neighbours on March 7. The next day, the victim's father filed a case against Shibu Das, 30, and other unnamed individuals accusing them of aiding Shibu in the crime.
Police arrested Shibu on March 8, and he was sent to jail by a court, police said.
Since Shibu's arrest, his cohorts had allegedly been threatening the victim's family and putting pressure on them to withdraw the case, the family claimed.
Deputy Attorney General Tanim Khan represented the state during hearing.
