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BANGLADESH: Allegation of molesting a subordinate female staff by a male judge requires credible investigation

March 7, 2011

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-052-2011

 

7 March 2011
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BANGLADESH: Allegation of molesting a subordinate female staff by a male judge requires credible investigation

ISSUES: Molestation; unethical actions; violence against women; abuse of power; discrimination; rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned of the allegation of molestation of a female fourth class employee by a Judge while cleaning his official chamber on 23 February 2011. The alleged Judge, who has been identified as Mr. Mohammad Yasin, has allegedly influenced the high-ranking bureaucrats targeting the complainant's job. The 42-years-old victim has been threatened with termination from her job. Your intervention is required to have this serious allegation investigated by credible authorities, for justice to the victim.

CASE DETAILS:

Mrs. Salma Begum, aged 42, a cleaner of the First Court of Settlement of Dhaka, has been working in her job for around 20 years.

Mrs. Salma alleges that she was molested by a judge while she was cleaning the office room of the Chairman of the First Court of Settlement of Dhaka at Shegunbagicha of the city of Dhaka on 23 February 2011.

According to Salma, at around 9:20am on 23 February, when she started sweeping the floor of the official chamber room of the Chairman of the First Court of Settlement of Dhaka a man embraced her from behind. When Salma was able to turn her face she saw Mr. Mohammad Yasin, the Chairman of the First Court of Settlement, smiling at her as he continued to hug her. Salma got scared and immediately shouted for help while Mr. Yasin told that he was "kidding". A personal assistant of the judge Mr. Jafar Ahmed came to the scene from his office room adjacent to the judge's chamber hearing Salma's loud cries for help. At this point the Judge, Mr. Yasin allegedly asked Jafar to expel Salma by saying, "Hold the neck of this woman and throw her out!" Salma came out the judge's room crying. Her audiovisual interview can be viewed here. 

 
Eye-witnesses wishing to remain unidentified said that they saw Salma shivering and upset as well as very much humiliated and traumatized immediately after the incident.

Afterwards three members of the Court of Settlement including Mr. Mohammad Yasin, Chairman, Ms. Fahmida Quader, Member (Judiciary) and also an Additional District Judge, and Mr. Arun Kumar Malakar, Member (Administration) also a Deputy Secretary, held a closed door meeting for few hours. Ms. Fahmida and Mr. Arun later called Salma and allegedly rebuked her saying that she (Salma) made a false allegation against the judge. Both Fahmida and Arun allegedly intimidated Salma asking her to keep her mouth shut and said that there will be "medical examination" done to justify her allegation.

When almost all the staff of the Court of Settlement came to know about the incident from one another Mr. Yasin and his colleagues called the police. Accordingly, a group of around five armed policemen arrived at the court area. The police were led by an officer of the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police who stayed in the office room of the Chairman of the Court of Settlement until, around 9pm, the judge Mr. Yasin left his office, unusually. Moreover, a number of senior officers also visited the office allegedly in favour of the judge, who called his friends from high-ranking governmental positions throughout the whole day.

On 24 February, Judge Mr. Mohammad Yasin reportedly went to the Bangladesh Secretariat where he met the Secretary-in-charge of the Ministry of Housing and Works Dr. Khandker Showkat Hossain and Joint Secretary (Development) Mr. Zillar Rahman in order to influence the administration to terminate Salma from her job. Later, on the same day, Salma submitted a petition to the Secretary of the Ministry of Establishment seeking justice for the incident.

Salma alleges that Judge Mr. Mohammad Yasin has threatened that he will make sure that she is dismissed from her job by saying that he has lots of influential friends in the bureaucracy to see how far she can reach to save her job. She is now afraid of losing her job because of the unsavory and unacceptable behaviour of a judge.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT:

The allegation is related to two persons who have unequal hierarchical official status, in reality. The person, who alleges to have been sexually insulted and approached by a powerful officer, is apparently vulnerable in a country where things happen arbitrarily with impunity to the persons or officials having the capacity to influence the authority and governmental power.

The alleged perpetrator, who happens to be in a position of a District Judge, has enormous power to exercise and cast influence upon a petty fourth class employee. To the Judge, it is a matter of showing the weight and sharpness of his authority against a poor 'insect' that dared to complain against the bad smell made by a mighty power-house, which is capable of changing the direction of the probable available remedy followed by an inquiry.

It is an imbalanced and unequal battle for a poorly-positioned woman for re-establishing her dignity and self-esteem. Importantly, the authorities all have – legal, ethical and moral – responsibilities as well as constitutional obligations to remain unbiased for the sake of protecting the human dignity of a woman in this case, and protecting the ethical standards for the judicial officers as a whole to wipe out judicial garbage, whenever there are similar allegations.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the authorities listed below insisting them to initiate a thorough and credible investigation by competent judicial officials followed by publication of the report and prosecution of the alleged perpetrator. The victim and the witnesses of the incident deserve adequate protection from any further harassment by any of the state or non-state-actors regarding the matter.

The AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteurs on violence against women and Independence of Judges and Lawyers calling for their intervention into this matter.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear ____________,

BANGLADESH: Allegation of molesting a subordinate female staff by a male judge requires credible investigation

Name of victim: Mrs. Salma Begum, aged 42, a cleaner by occupation, attached to the Court of Settlement of Dhaka
Name of the alleged perpetrator: Mr. Mohammad Yasin, a District Judge, currently appointed as the Chairman of the First Court of Settlement of Dhaka at Shegunbagicha in the city of Dhaka
Place of incident: Official Chamber of the Chairman of the First Court of Settlement of Dhaka at Shegunbagicha in the city of Dhaka
Date of incident: 23 February 2011

I am raising my voice to express my serious concern over an allegation of molestation of a female subordinate staff by a male judge at the First Court of Settlement of Dhaka on 23 February 2011. As the alleged complainant is employed in a hierarchically lower grade, it appears that she may face a great challenge to have a credible investigation done regarding the alleged incident while the alleged perpetrator is a senior judge having many colleagues and friends to handle the situation by suppressing the facts or misguiding the process, I request you to launch a credible investigation to ensure justice to this incident.

According to the information I have received from Mrs. Salma Begum, at around 9:20am on 23 February, when she started sweeping the floor of the personal office room of the Chairman of First Court of Settlement of Dhaka she found that a man embraced her from behind. When Salma turned her face she saw that Mr. Mohammad Yasin, the Chairman of the First Court of Settlement, smiling while still hugging her. Salma got scared and immediately shouted for help while Mr. Yasin told her that he was "kidding". A personal assistant of the judge Mr. Jafar Ahmed, who heard the loud voice of Salma crying for help, came to the scene from his office room adjacent to the judge's chamber. At this point the Judge, Mr. Yasin allegedly asked Jafar to expel Salma by saying that "Hold the neck of this woman and throw her out!" Salma came out the judge's room crying.

Eye-witnesses wishing to remain unidentified told that they saw Salma shivering and upset as well as very much humiliated and traumatized immediately after the incident.

Afterwards three members of the First Court of Settlement including Mr. Mohammad Yasin, Chairman, Ms. Fahmida Quader, Member (Judiciary) and also an Additional District Judge, and Mr. Arun Kumar Malakar, Member (Administration) also a Deputy Secretary, held a closed door meeting for few hours. Ms. Fahmida and Mr. Arun later called Salma and allegedly rebuked her saying that she (Salma) made a false allegation against the judge. Both Fahmida and Arun allegedly intimidated Salma asking her to keep her mouth shut and said that there will be "medical examination" done to justify her allegation.

When almost all the staff of the Court of Settlement came to know about the incident from one another Mr. Yasin and his colleagues called the police. Accordingly, a group of around five armed policemen arrived at the court area. The police were led by an officer of the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police who stayed in the office room of the Chairman of the Court of Settlement until, around 9pm, the judge Mr. Yasin left his office, unusually. Moreover, a number of senior officers also visited the office allegedly in favour of the judge, who called his friends from high-ranking governmental positions throughout the whole day.

On 24 February, Judge Mr. Mohammad Yasin reportedly went to the Bangladesh Secretariat where he met the Secretary-in-charge of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works Dr. Khandker Showkat Hossain and Joint Secretary (Development) Mr. Zillar Rahman in order to influence the administration to terminate Salma from her job. Later, on the same day, Salma submitted a petition to the Secretary of the Ministry of Establishment seeking justice for the incident.

Salma alleges that Judge Mr. Mohammad Yasin has threatened that he will make sure that she is dismissed from her job by saying that he has lots of influential friends in the bureaucracy to see how far she can reach to save her job. She is now afraid of losing her job for the unacceptable and unsavory action of a judge.

It is understandable that the person, who alleges to have been sexually insulted by a powerful officer, is apparently vulnerable in where things may happen arbitrarily with impunity to the persons or officials.

It is assumed that the alleged perpetrator, who happens to be in a position of a District Judge, has enormous power to exercise and influence upon a petty fourth class employee being is capable of changing the direction of any possible inquiry regarding the matter.

In such an imbalanced and unequal battle between a poorly-positioned woman, who fights back for re-establishing her dignity and self-esteem, and an organized high-ranking group of officers it is highly important for the authorities to ensure all – legal, ethical and moral – responsibilities as well as constitutional obligations to remain unbiased for the sake of protecting the dignity of a woman in this case, and protecting the ethical standards for the judicial officers as a whole to wipe out judicial garbage, if there is any.

I look forward to your immediate and credible action into this matter.

Yours sincerely,

---------------
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mrs. Sheikh Hasina
Prime Minister
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Office of the Prime Minister
Tejgaon, Dhaka
BANGLADESH
Fax: +880 2 811 3244 / 3243 / 1015 / 1490
Tel: +880 2 882 816 079 / 988 8677
E-mail: pm@pmo.gov.bd or ps1topm@pmo.gov.bd or psecy@pmo.gov.bd

2. Mr. A. B. M. Khairul Haque
Chief Justice
Supreme Court of Bangladesh
Supreme Court Building
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Fax: +880 2 956 5058 /+880 2 7161344
Tel: +880 2 956 2792
E-mail: chief@bdcom.com or supremec@bdcom.com

3. Barrister Shafique Ahmed
Minister
Ministry of Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs
Bangladesh Secretariat
Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 7160627 (O)
Fax: +880 2 7168557 (O)
Email: info@minlaw.gov.bd

4. Ms. Sahara Khatun MP
Minister
Ministry of Home Affairs
Bangladesh Secretariat
Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 7169069 (O)
Fax: +880 2 7160405, +880 2 7164788 (O)
E-mail: minister@mha.gov.bd

5. Mr. Mahbubey Alam
Attorney General of Bangladesh
Office of the Attorney General
Supreme Court Annex Building
Ramna, Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Fax: +880 2 956 1568
Tel: +880 2 956 2868

6. Prof. Mizanur Rahman
Chairman
National Human Rights Commission
Gulfeshan Plaza, 10th Floor
8, journalist Selina Parvin Road
Mogbazar, Dhaka
Tel: +88 02 8331492
Fax: +88 02 8333219
E-mail: nhrc.bd@gmail.com

7. Mr. Abdul Mannan Khan
State Minister
Ministry of Housing & Public Works
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Bangladesh Secretariat
Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Fax: +880 2 9571984
Email: stminister@mohpw.gov.bd

8. Mr. Iqbal Mahmood
Secretary
Ministry of Establishment
Bangladesh Secretariat
Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Tel: +880 2 7164080
Fax: +880 2 7167056
E-mail: secretary@moestab.gov.bd

9. Dr. Khondaker Showkat Hossain
Secretary-in-charge
Ministry of Housing & Public Works
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Bangladesh Secretariat
Dhaka-1000
BANGLADESH
Fax: +880 2 9571984
Email: secretary@mohpw.gov.bd


Thank you.

Urgent Appeal Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-052-2011
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.