Bangladesh
Death Penalty Special session of Parliament begins, raises death penalty law for rape
Dhaka, November 9: A special session of Parliament has begun on the occasion of the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
In accordance with the rules of health, the speaker Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury presided over the sitting on Sunday.
This is the tenth session of the ongoing Eleventh Parliament. It will continue till November 20. On the first day of the session, the ‘Women and Child Abuse Suppression (Amendment) Bill-2020’ has been raised with the provision of death penalty as the maximum punishment for rape.
President Abdul Hamid will give a speech on Monday on the occasion of the special session.
For this, the parliament building area has been redecorated. As always, the session will continue in accordance with the hygiene rules in the Corona situation. In addition to the general discussion on the President's address in the session, several important bills are expected to be passed.
After the President's commemorative speech on Bangabandhu's colorful and active political life, a general resolution will be brought to discuss it.
The proposal will be passed after discussions between the government and members of the opposition. Like the last three sessions during the Corona period, the next session will also be attended by MPs on a roster basis. On November 9, the day of the President's commemorative speech, all members of the Corona Negative Parliament will be able to attend the session.
On the occasion of Mujib's year, a special session (seventh session) of the parliament was convened on March 22, but the President postponed it due to increasing corona infection in the country.
Meanwhile, State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Begum Fazilatun Nesa raised the 'Women and Child Abuse Suppression (Amendment) Bill-2020' in the National Assembly with the provision of death penalty as the maximum punishment for rape. The bill has been sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs for submission of a report in Parliament within a week after its scrutiny.
In the light of the ordinance amending Act No. 8 (Suppression of Violence against Women and Children) of 2000, the bill raised in Parliament states that the words 'life imprisonment' or 'life imprisonment' will be substituted for 'life imprisonment'.
