the president would issue an ordinance on Tuesday
making it law.
There was
widespread outrage in Bangladesh last week after footage of a brutal gang
assault on a 37-year-old woman went viral on social media.
At least 1,000
rapes have been reported in Bangladesh this year, activists say.
But many cases go
unreported because women fear they will be stigmatised, according to human
rights advocates, and in cases that are reported conviction rates are extremely
low. Protesters galvanised by last week's viral video have demanded faster
trials and changes to the way rape cases are prosecuted.
An investigation
by Bangladesh's National Human Rights Commission found that the woman in the
viral video, who was attacked in the southeastern district of Noakhalim, had
been raped repeatedly over time and terrorised. Eight men were arrested after
the video emerged.
in a separate
case another woman was allegedly gang raped last week in a hostel in the
northern district of Sylhet, leading to the arrest of several members of the
student wing of the ruling party.
Bangladesh was
rocked over the weekend by an unprecedented level of protest. Demonstrators
carried signs reading "Hang the rapists" and "No mercy to
rapists". In the capital Dhaka, a mock gallows was erected by protesters.
Responding
directly to the protests, the government decided to make the change by way of
an ordinance, since parliament is not sitting - effectively passing it directly
into law.
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