Asif Nazrul for continuation of reforms to ensure justice

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Adviser Dr. Asif Nazrul today stressed the need for continuation of the legal and institutional reforms taken by the interim government for ensuring justice.

“One of the five main problems in Bangladesh is the crisis of justice. We have done many legal and institutional reforms, which no one has carried out in the past. If the next government maintains these reforms, there will be unlimited opportunities for people to get justice and there will be no crisis in justice delivery,” he said.

He made the remarks while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of a pilot project on legal aid in Sylhet this afternoon.

The pilot project is being implemented in Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Sunamganj, Faridpur, Mymensingh, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Satkhira, Kushtia, Comilla, Noakhali, Rangamati districts.

Advocating for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system for quick completion of the trial process, Asif Nazrul said that resolving disputes through legal aid takes one-tenth of the time compared to resolving them under conventional laws.

Additionally, 90 percent of people are satisfied with the resolution of disputes through legal aid and they do not even go to court to file a case,” he said.

“Dispute resolution that takes five years in conventional courts takes three to six months to resolve in legal aid courts. Similarly, after a case in a trial court under conventional law, many people go to the High Court after a verdict,” he said.

The adviser said the state did not pay attention to this issue earlier.

"This is a judicial process that takes much less time, costs less and reduces suffering to a large extent. The state did not pay attention to such an important area earlier. There is a huge opportunity to work here," he stated.

Asif Nazrul continued that thousands of crores of taka are required for the development of conventional courts while the legal aid needs much less money compared to the conventional courts.

“People can be assured of justice through legal aid courts with much less money,” he said.

He said the government has made mandatory the filing of cases in legal aid aimed at reducing the backlog of cases.

"It was not mandatory to file a case under the Legal Aid Act before. Now we have made it mandatory to reduce the backlog of cases. If someone is dissatisfied after going there, they can go to the judicial court,” he said.

The Law Adviser said from now on, it is mandatory to go to legal aid first with cases under 11 laws as a result of the amendment to the law, he said,

 "It is mandatory to go to the legal aid court before filing a case under 11 types of laws including family disputes, maintenance of parents, division of property, dowry, check cases, house rent, etc," he said.

Stating that the number of judges has been increased, Asif Nazrul said if there was one judge in a district earlier, now three will perform this duty.

Among them, a senior assistant judge, a senior judge and a retired district magistrate will be appointed, he said.

The adviser said, “If this is implemented, the backlog of cases in the country will decrease. It will create unlimited opportunities for the protection of justice and rights of the poor and helpless people of the country.”

Apart from legal aid, he said they have done a lot of work that has never been done in the history of Bangladesh.

“To speed up the disposal of cases, we have separated civil and criminal courts. The power to create judicial posts was previously in the hands of political ministers, we have taken it to the Chief Justice's Office. We took it personally and got it signed by the Chief Adviser. As a result, 215 judge posts have been created in one day,” he said.

He continued that the ordinances they have made in the CrPC and CPC have not been done in the past in such a thorough manner.

“There has been no criticism about the Digital Security Act that we have made. We have made an ordinance for the Women and Children Repression Prevention Court. This is an incredible event,” he said.