Bangladesh court permits jailed rape convict and victim to marry

The High Court has ordered the Rajshahi Central Jail superintendent to arrange the marriage of a man sentenced to life for rape and the victim at the prison gates.

The panel of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Md Mostafizur Rahman passed the order on Thursday after both sides agreed to the marriage.

The court was hearing a bail petition of the convict. The victim was also present.

The convict and the victim, who is also plaintiff of the case, are cousins. They are from Rajshahi’s Godagari.

The convict raped the woman promising to marry her when she was 14 years old in 2011.

But he declined to marry her when she became pregnant with his child. The family tried to thrash out a solution through arbitration but the attempts failed. Finally she started the case on Oct 25 the same year.

A Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal in Rajshahi framed the charges against the man on Jan 29, 2012 and sentenced him to life in prison on Jun 12 the same year. The tribunal also fined him Tk 50,000.

The convict recently filed a petition for bail.

SM Shahed Chowdhury, the lawyer for the convict, told the court at Thursday’s hearing that the bail was necessary because the victim and the convict agreed to marry.

Deputy Attorney General Md Sarwar Hossain Bappy represented the state.