Children
under nine cannot be punished
The
Jatiya Sangsad passed the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill 2004 raising the
minimum official age of criminal responsibility of a child from seven
to nine years. Piloting the bill, Law Minister Moudud Ahmed said under
the new provision a child of nine years could be exempted from criminal
responsibility while a child in the age group 9-12 could be given limited
exemption if he or she is found insufficiently matured. "The government
did not propose to raise the age limit from 12 to 14 since it was found
that two main accused of the murder of Govt Laboratory School teacher,
both aged 14, had staged the cold-blooded murder," the minister
told the lawmakers. Awami League (AL) lawmakers AKM Jahangir Hossain
and Rahmat Ali moved motion for eliciting public opinion before passage
of the bill. AKM Jahangir said there should be uniformity in age limit
of children for exemption from criminal responsibility. The law minister
said it is not possible to make a uniform age limit, because each law
is made for a particular subject and it is not possible for making a
uniform age of children for immunity from criminal responsibility. However,
the bill was passed by voice vote without much discussion. UNB,
November 2
DIG
(prison) in sexual abuse
The Women and Children Repression (Prevention) Court, Jessore
issued a warrant of arrest against a deputy inspector general of prison
on charge of sexual harassment of a woman police for two times. A woman
working with the police at the Jessore Central Jail filed the case on
October 17 against Sardar Abdus Salam, in-charge of the Khulna and Barisal
divisions, the police said. The woman complained that Abdus Salam tried
to rape her in May and August in his Jessore Central Jail residence.
Daily Ittefaq, November 3.
Faizee
to face Bar Council scrutiny
Additional judge Faisal Mahmud Faizee, who was withdrawn from
the High Court bench for alleged tampering with law graduation result,
faces scrutiny by the Bar Council. Faizee is likely to explain his position
before Attorney General AF Hassan Ariff, ex-officio chairman of the
council. Sources said the Bar Council, lawyers' regulatory body that
issues enrolment certificate for legal practice, will also discuss similar
allegations against some other lawyers. Chief Justice Syed JR Mudassir
Husain withdrew Faizee from the bench in the wake of the allegation
and lawyers' threat to boycott his court. He also thrust full responsibility
of the bench upon Justice Ali Asgar Khan, Faizee's senior judge in the
bench, as Asgar declined to sit with him in the court. Two major dailies
reported that Justice Faizee, one of the 19 additional judges whose
appointment on August 23 drew sharp criticism, had tampered with his
marks-sheet of LLB degree obtained from Chittagong Law College in 1989.
An enquiry committee of Chittagong University has unearthed the fraud.
The Daily Star, November
4
