Fatwa trial in Bangladesh

Dr. Rashid Askari

HENA Akhter of Shariatpur is the latest victim of what can be called fatwa trial in Bangladesh. She was condemned to suffer a hundred and one lashes by a fatwa court and, on execution, succumbed to it. She died, or in other words, she was whipped to death. Although it is unwise to generalise the whole situation from a single example, we cannot help thinking what age we are in. Just close your eyes and imagine. In broad daylight, in a crowded locality, a mighty man is cracking his whip on a minor girl. The girl is shouting out in pain. But, nobody is coming to her aid, because she is under a sentence passed by a fatwa court.

One, however, may not find it necessary to be despondent about one incident like this. But I find every cause for alarm, assuming, reasonably, the worst case scenario. This is not a solitary shred of evidence of fatwa-trial fatality in Bangladesh. Although not as frequent as other forms of violence occurring in this country, many cases of this kind of unauthorised capital punishment by whipping or pelting with stones have taken place since the birth of the republic. Although less frequent, this sort of cold-blooded killing is more dangerous than many of the frequent stray acts of violence. Besides, the priggish fatwa-jury panel tries to give a false veneer of scriptural legality in dealing out harsher sentences which is far more dangerous, because this sometimes convinces some dogmatic people who become unfeeling witnesses to these occurrences forgetting even the sense of common humanity. Is not it a threat to the steady progress of a secular democratic country and a pluralistic society?

The fatwa-trial is a heinous manifestation of women’s oppression in the country. It is violence against women in a demonic way. Although it is detrimental to both the sexes, in our context it is more hostile towards women. This horrific torture meted out to women by the pathological quasi-religious fanatics has been a concomitant of other domestic, social, ethnic, violence against Bangladeshi women. The doctrinaire fatwa jurors are tougher on women. They gave severe punishment to Hena for her alleged adultery, but no punishment was given to the rapist. Most of the victims of fatwa-trial in Bangladesh are women. Maybe it is ingrained in the mind of the misogynist adjudicators that the first human sin was committed by a woman. So at their hands, women are more sinned against than sinning.

But who are they to accuse, to judge, to deal out punishment, and to inflict it? We have the judiciary, law enforcers, and even human rights agencies. If somebody stands accused of any crime against anything, the accusatory can go to law. If he is denied justice by the low court, he can go to the higher court and even to the highest court. We have the law based on the principles of justice, and the legal hierarchy to ensure its execution. So, none is allowed to take the matter into their own hands by any means. But what did the self-appointed fatwa-judges do? They had been law unto themselves, and turned lawless. They did not give a damn about the law-enforcers. They themselves accused Hena, judged the case, sentenced her, and imposed the punishment. What they did is a mockery of our legal system. Turning a deaf ear to the self-returned verdict of the court against fatwa in Bangladesh and challenging the existence, power, and responsibility of our judiciary, they exercised a parallel legal power. It is a gross violation of the constitution too.

If Hena had really broken the prevailing country law, she should have been brought to justice. There are clear legal procedures to try this sort of case. Then why did not they do that? Why did they resort to violence? The answer is very simple. Firstly, they wanted to declare for their mission through their action after a pretty long time. Secondly, they wanted to see the government and public reaction to it and thirdly, to make people get used to this sort of extrajudicial trial which they dream about introducing on their assumption of the state power like Mullah Omar in Afghanistan. Although out of touch with reality, it is Bangladeshi people’s worst nightmare.

It is more dangerous than we think. The votaries of this draconian legal system called ‘fatwa trial’ are not the ones who will pack up their ‘legal practice’ after Hena-trial. They are working for introducing this throughout the country. They are the successors to those who were sent to the gallows for trying violently to implement this system. We have not forgotten Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai and their crazy disciples who dropped bombs in sixty-three districts at the same time to let it be known that they existed and wanted their law to exist. They killed some judges as a mark of protest against the prevailing legal system.

So, fatwa-practitioners and the religious militants must have strong rapport between each other. Besides, they maintain a clandestine relationship with some political parties with whose changing fortune their fortune fluctuates. After Shaikh Rahman and Bangla Bhai’s death by the hangman’s noose and their political allies’ debacle in the national election of 2008, they are almost on their last legs. Again they are trying to raise their heads to see which way the wind blows. Hena’s trial is just to warm up before the main event. But it is not a piece of cake. The people of Bangladesh are historically secular and down to earth. They hold moderate views on religion and hate all extreme beliefs. So using the carrot and stick approach the extremists cannot make them dance to their tune. Hena’s death would be the final nail in the coffin of the fatwa-trial.

We have heard of the blood-curdling stories of witch-hunting in the Middle Ages. We have heard of the horrifying stories of burying female children alive in the so-called Jahelia Age. But the facts of the killing of poor women in the name of trials by this sort of kangaroo courts are no less terrifying than those storied women persecutions. We take pride in the advancement of civilisations. We say we have left behind the brutality of the Medieval Ages. We have bidden farewell to all cruel old histories. But are we sure we are safe from barbarism?

Rashid Askari teaches English literature at Kushtia Islamic University. Email: rashidaskari65@yahoo.com