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 case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
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)
