The Supreme Court has temporarily suspended the judicial powers of Mosammat Kamrunnahar, the judge in the Raintree rape case, who had drawn criticism for saying that rape cases should not be recorded if 72 hours have passed following the crime, bdnews24.com reports.
The chief justice has also instructed that the Dhaka Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-7 judge should not sit in court from Sunday.
The decision was announced by Mohammad Saifur Rahman, Supreme Court spokesman and special officer, in a press release on Sunday morning.
Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain made the decision after consulting with the other senior justices, the statement said.
“The Supreme Court sent a letter to the Ministry of Law at 9:30 am today to temporarily revoke her criminal jurisdiction and withdraw her from her current workplace and assign her to the Ministry of Law’s Law and Justice Department.”
On Thursday, Kamrunnahar acquitted Shafat Ahmed, the son of an Apan Jewellers co-owner, and four others on charges of raping two university students at the Raintree hotel in Dhaka’s Banani in 2017.
In her observations, the judge wrote: “The investigating officer submitted a biased chargesheet in the case. The medical reports on the victims did not find any signs of sexual violation. The DNA found on the victims’ clothes did not match the suspects. The victims came to the police 38 days after the incident, saying they had been raped. The investigating officer should have given the matter proper consideration.”
Instead, the officer “wasted the public’s time”, the judge said, instructing that no rape cases should be filed if 72 hours have passed since the incident.
She also said it was proved that the university students had consensual sex before the incident.
Rights activists and lawyers said that Kamrunnahar’s observation was a violation of the constitution.
Law Minister Anisul Huq said on Saturday that the judge will face action over the matter.
“Let me make one thing clear – I don’t want to talk about the content of the verdict. But her observation asking the police not to record a case 72 hours after rape is totally illegal and unconstitutional,” the law minister had said.
“I am writing to the chief justice tomorrow (Sunday) seeking steps over her duty as a judge.”