Ordinance passed by Bangladesh specifying capital punishment for rape

Oct 14: President Md Abdul Hamid on Tuesday issued an ordinance on the amendment of Nari O Shishu Nirjaton Daman Ain (Women and Children Repression Prevention Act), incorporating the provision of capital punishment for rape. Earlier, the punishment for rape was only life imprisonment.

In a tense climate around the issue of rape, with numerous demonstrations all over the country, Bangladesh decided, Monday, October 12, to make it “An offense punishable by death”. At a meeting of her government in Dhaka, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina passed “A reform of the 2000 law on the protection of women and children providing for the death penalty for perpetrators of rape.”