Justice for 1971 War Rapes

About the Book

The history of 1971 Bangladesh War of Liberation accords the mass rape of Bangladeshi women by the Pakistan Army and their local collaborators. After about 40 years of the Liberation War, the matter of rape of the Bangladeshi women was brought under litigation, to a certain extent, in the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICT-BD). However, the issue of justice for the rape victims of the 1971 Bangladesh War of Liberation still lacks comprehensive social and legal attention. A question remained very much unexplored as to whether ‘legal justice’ through trials essentially ensures ‘social justice’ for the war rape victims of Bangladesh. It thus remains an unspoken narrative in Bangladesh in respect of how the war rape victims actually perceive ‘justice’. Another question that arises in this regard is whether ‘complete justice’ is being done in the course of ensuring legal justice to war rape victims. It may be mentioned that no systematic and/or comprehensive research has been conducted so far on this subject. This research would endeavor to get an account from 385 Bangladeshi war rape victims and their families about the socio-legal aspects of the long-awaited justice.

About the Author

Dr. Tureen Afroz was a Senior Prosecutor (with the status of an Additional Attorney General) at the ICT-BD. She has provided legal arguments in most of the leading cases of the ICT-BD. She has been admitted as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and a Barrister and Solicitor of the NSW Supreme Court of Australia. Dr. Afroz is also a legal academic and has been teaching law now for more than 22 years. On the Bangladesh war crime issue, she participated in a number of parliamentary hearings at the House of Lords and the House of Commons (UK), EU Parliament, parliaments of Argentina, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands and Sweden. Dr. Afroz’s remarkable publication includes books titled, Trials of 1971 Bangladesh Genocide: Through A Legal Lens (Singapore: 2019) and Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in Bangladesh: Trial under International Crimes (Tribunals) Act, 1973 (Dhaka: 2010).