Law Event
Access to justice in CHT
Before 1 July 2008, there were no formal courts to dispense disputes at Chittagong Hill Tracts. At that time, mainly the Carbaree Head and circle chief customarily disposed of local disputes. Other disputes were settled by Deputy Commissioner (DC) of the concerned district except family matters. If any body aggrieved, he had an opportunity to file appeal before Chittagong District Judge Court. That system created great harassment for the hilly inhabitants to get justice and most of the time they were deprived access to justice.
To confer the opportunity of taking justice from formal court specially from Civil, Criminal and Women and Children Repression (Prevention) Tribunal for the indigenous community Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST) filed a writ petition along with three inhabitants from three hilly districts namely Advocate Protikar Chakma, Nikhil Mitra Chakma and Rajanikanta Tongchonggaa before the High Court Division of Supreme Court of Bangladesh in 2006. On 24 February 2008 after the completion of hearing Justice ABM Khairul Huq and Justice Abdul Awal's divisional bench directed to that time Non-party Care Taker Govt. to set up Civil, Criminal Courts and Women and Children Repression (Prevention) Tribunal at Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Though three years have been passed after the establishment of Judge Court at CHT, dissatisfaction still exists with the life of indigenous community. Lack of infrastructural facilities and regular staff is a great setback in way of running day-to-day function of the courts. Moreover, immediate order for proper and adequate transfer of records from Chittagong Deputy Commissioner's Office is necessary. Lack of knowledge about regular court procedure among lawyers due to long inadvertence also make barrier to make the process of justice smooth.
After almost three years of establishment of Judge Court at Chittagong Hill Tracts BLAST arranged a workshop on “Functioning of District Courts and Access to Justice in Chittagong Hill Tracts: Formulation of Next Strategy” on 2nd of April 2011 at CIRDAP auditorium. Chief justice ABM Khairul Haque was addressing the workshop as chief guest.
According to a study carried out by the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), 165 civil appeals, 1307 criminal cases and 28 cases under Women and Children Repression (Prevention) Act are pending in Rangamati courts and 1,150 cases with the courts and tribunals in Bandarban and Khagrachari as of December 31, 2010.
Appellate division Judge Muzammel Hossian and Surendra Kumar Sinha was special guest, Supreme Court lawyers Shahdeen Malik, ZI Khan Panna, Additional Attorney General MK Rahman, Barrister Sara Hossain, Khagrachari Session Judge M Mokhtar Ahmed, Rangamati Joint District Judge Badrul Islam, women's rights activist Donai Prue Nally, and Hill Tracts Bar Association leaders were present at the workshop. The workshop was presided over by BLAST Trustee Board Member Samsul Bari.
The participants of this workshop and research of BLAST recommend many tasks to Government. They also recommended the Supreme Court, Bar Council, National Legal Aid Serving Authority, NGOs and other concerned to run hill tracts judge courts swiftly and to establish access to justice in that area. Among them considering appointment of 1st Class Magistrate in Bandarban, considering appointments of judges from within the local community including Adivasis, ensuring regular inspections of courts in the three Hill Districts, sending resolutions of meetings of District Legal Aid Committees regularly to NLASO, to enable speedier responses are the main recommended tasks. National Legal Aid Services Authority should work more closely with legal aid organizations and with women's rights organizations. Their main job should be to take up outreach programmes, involving women's rights and community based organisations, providing assistance to indigent under-trial prisoners. At this situation Government initiative may be taken into account to undertake consultations on the judicial system within the Hill Districts.
Now by considering and implementing these recommendations within very short time each concerned body can ensure right to get justice for the indigenous peoples of Chittagong Hill Tracts.
The event was covered by Md. Raisul Islam Sourav, a student of Law, Northern University Bangladesh.
