Death penalty if children used in violence - DhakaTribune

An all-party parliamentary panel has recommended death sentence as the maximum punishment for using children aged under 18 in violent activities such as murder and intimidation, taking into account the massive mobilisation of adolescent madrasa students in the Hefazat-e-Islam's Dhaka blockade programme on May 5.

The parliamentary standing committee of social welfare ministry inserted a new section in the Children Bill, 2013 suggesting that any genuine guardian or custodian of children will also face capital punishment in line with the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009 for using them in terrorism.

Mozammel Hossain, chairman of the standing committee, on June 11 tabled the law in parliament along with the watchdog's recommendations.

Enamul Hauque Mostofa Shahid, the social welfare minister, tabled the Children Bill, 2013 on April 30 this year to replace a similar law passed by the Awami League government in 1974. Parliament secretariat sources say the bill is likely to be passed in the current session after the approval of the standing committee.

The original law contained a section saying anyone using children to carry fire arms and contraband items will face three years in jail or a fine of Tk100,000.

The standing committee, on its June 5 meeting, inserted the tougher sections to stop the misuse of children for political gains.
State Minister for social welfare Promode Mankin, and committee members Syeda Jebunnesa Haque, Md Abdul Majid Khan, Nurunnabi Chowdhury, AN Mahfuza Khatun Baby Maudud and Apu Ukil of the Awami League and Abdul Momin Talukder of the BNP attended the meeting that unanimously approved the recommendations.

The newly-inserted provision says: "No matter whether genuine guardian or custodian of using the adolescents [up to 18 years] in the terrorist activities, defined in the section six of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009, will presumed to have committed the terrorist activities done by the children concerned."

"The guardian or the custodian will face the punishment in line with the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009 for the crimes," it reads.

According to the Act, terrorism includes murder, intimidation, serious injury, captivating, whisking or damaging public property aimed at imperilling the integrity, security, sovereignty of the country. It further says possession of explosives, flammable articles, fire arms and other chemicals will also be considered as terrorist activities.

The Act stipulates death sentence or life sentence as the maximum punishment for terrorist activities. The convicted terrorists will also face imprisonment ranging from 20 years to 30 years depending upon the gravity of the crimes.

"We have seen massive abuse of children in the Hefazat-e-Islam's programmes in Dhaka. The innocent children were taken to Dhaka without informing them about the purpose," Apu Ukil, a member of the watchdog, said. "Such abuses must be stopped."

The children law also proposes setting up of a special court for trying the children charged with criminal activities. The children will get bail no matter what crimes they have committed. The proposed law also slaps a ban on media to report on the proceedings of the children's court.

According to the parliamentary rules, the assembly can change the law anytime before the passage, but experiences show that the recommendations of the standing committees are rarely changed.