From now on, women facing abuse over dowry may no longer be able to file a case directly, unless they first go through a mandatory mediation process. The interim government issued a new ordinance on July 1, amending the Legal Aid Services Act, making mediation a precondition in certain cases of dowry-related violence.
The change affects cases under Section 11(g) of the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, where a husband or his family inflicts simple hurt on a woman for dowry. Instead of going straight to court, survivors must now first approach the government’s legal aid office. Only if that process fails can they pursue a criminal case.
Legal experts and rights groups have called the amendment alarming. Advocate Ishrat Hasan noted that this restricts women’s right to justice and will likely lead to a rise in domestic abuse. ASK (Ain o Salish Kendra) warned that Bangladesh does not yet have the infrastructure to offer meaningful legal aid through mediation, and that blocking direct access to the courts will only deepen the crisis.
Data from the national 109 helpline shows just how widespread domestic violence is: in 2024, the helpline received over 1.9 million calls, with 460,000+ related to family violence alone.
Despite that, survivors of dowry abuse are now being asked to first “negotiate” with their abusers.
Women’s rights groups say this move will set back decades of progress in combating domestic violence. Instead of ensuring safety, the law now makes women’s access to justice slower, conditional, and in many cases, impossible.
Source: Ajker Potrika
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