In 2006, recognising the flaws in existing laws for compensating victims of violent crime, the law commission proposed the Crime Victims Compensation Act, requiring the creation of a district-specific fund for victims of specified offences, including rape, to ensure compensation as a guaranteed right.
Compensation for rape victims and their family members remains elusive in the existing criminal justice system, with a clear mandate absent in the relevant law, say legal experts.
On the other hand, a law drawn up to address compensation for victims of violent crimes, including rape, has been in the draft stages for 14 years.
Legal experts said the current system has left rape victims and their families to fend for themselves during long, difficult trial proceedings, deprived of state support they desperately need.
Take the widely reported case of the five-year-old girl abducted and raped by the father of one of her friends while she was playing near her home in Dinajpur in October 2016.
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