Police apathy towards cases of rape

The accused in a rape case who is a member of Dhunat upazila unit of Awami League has been let off by the Officer-in-charge (OC) of Dhunat Police Station on the basis of a technicality, that the address of the accused was wrong. The victim's family members have stated however that the police official in question is guilty of letting the accused off due to political influence and bribery, an accusation refuted by the OC in question. Our question regarding the treatment of the case however is why this police officer had refused to register the case at Sherpur Police Station over a year ago on June 7, 2017 when he was in charge of that station. Why did the victim's family have to lodge the case with the Bogra Women and Children repression Prevention Tribunal-2, which issued the warrant order?

This is an all too familiar story in our country where influential people are able to get away without facing any legal repercussions. Who gave this police official or any police station for that matter the right to refuse to register a case as serious as rape? Things are bad as it is where we know from police data that some 18,668 rape cases were filed during the 2012 to 2017 period with only 22 convictions, i.e. only two out of every 100 cases filed ended in conviction!

Now if we are going to get into a situation where the police refuse to even register cases, then what hope is there for justice for victims of rape? The police officer in question is guilty of dereliction of duty and he must be taken to task by the police administration. Unless we are willing to make the system work for victims as opposed to being favourable to rapists, sex crimes will continue to grow and justice will remain elusive to the victims.