Justice For 1971 War Rapes

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.