Sexual offences :: Introduction
Cesare Beccaria was perhaps the first criminologist who comprehended crime as a symptom of social disease. This concept of crime led penologist to believe that struggle against crimes was above all a struggle against poverty, sickness, alcoholism and prostitution. This , in other words, means that if these social evils could be eliminated, the problem of crime prevention would be considerably eased. There are, however, certain peculiar categories of crime which do not respond to this hypothesis favorably because of the pervasive tendency of human nature. Sexual crime is obviously on among such crimes which prevails in almost all societies from ages. Sexual offences :: Legal Theories With the advance of science, civilization and culture, the complexities of life have enormous multiplied. Modern mechanization and urbanization has bought about total disintegration of the ‘family’ institution which has created serious problems in human life. The control of parents over their wards has weakened considerably. In fact it is this parental negligence which is mainly responsible for growing indiscipline, rowdyism, and vagrancy among youngsters. Uncontrollable hooliganism among youths has become a serious problem for law enforcement agencies throughout the world. It has rather become a social disease. As a result of this unhappy development, the incidence of sex delinquency in the form of unmarried motherhood, abortion, rape, kidnapping, enticement, abduction, adultery, incest, indecent assault etc. has become too common. Sexual offences :: Reality A study of sexual offences in one of the America States reveal that almost 88 percent of the school-going girls between the age of fourteen and eighteen had sex-experience before attaining puberty. Another survey in U.S.A. concluded that in one out of every five or ten marriages today the bride is already pregnant. Depicting the picture of modern sexy-civilization in United States, the Life International of October 23, 1961 rightly observed that “a couple goes for a date and wake up to find they have been married although they cannot remember why and where…..” by quoted in Parapurnanand Varm’s : Crime, Criminology and Convict Page 107. Looking to the psychological aspect of sex indulgences, Dr. Albert Ellis has expressed a view that he is against putting any ban on any type of sexual behaviour, not even open prostitution by males of females. He observed that discouragement of sex pleasures and dispensation of cohabitation as disgusting and revolting may lead to neurotic loss of feeling and enjoyment in normal sex which may result into fatal consequences. However, it would not be correct to subscribe to this view of Dr. Albert Ellis in the Indian sub-continent. Like any other western country, the sex delinquency in Indian sub-continent has also recorded an upward trend in recent decades. Despite repressive socio-legal measures to control sex crime, the ‘permissive’ trend of the modern Indian sub-continent society is causing obstruction for prosecution and punishment of sexual-offenders. These sexual offences, therefore, have thrown a great challenge before the criminal justice administration.
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Law
system of rules 1 (also the law) [U] the whole system of rules that everyone in a country or society must obey: If they entered the building they would be breaking the law. * In Sweden it is against the law to hit a child. * Defence attorneys can use any means within the law to get their client off. * British schools are now required by law to publish their exam results. * The reforms have recently become law. * Do not think you are above the law (= think that you cannot be punished by the law). * the need for better law enforcement * (humorous) Kate's word was law in the Brown household. 2 [U] a particular branch of the law: company / tax law * He specializes in international law. see also CANON LAW, CASE LAW, CIVIL LAW, COMMON LAW, PRIVATE LAW, STATUTE LAW one rule 3 [C] ~ (on sth) | ~ (against sth) a rule that deals with a particular crime, agreement, etc: the 1996 law against the hiring of illegal immigrants * The government has introduced some tough new laws on food hygiene. * strict gun / licensing laws * a federal / state law * to pass a law (= officially make it part of the law) * (spoken) There ought to be a law against it! see also BY-LAW, LICENSING LAWS subject / profession 4 [U] the study of the law as a subject at university, etc.; the profession of being a lawyer: Jane is studying law. * (AmE) He's in law school. * (BrE) He's at law school. * What made you go into law? * a law firm police 5 (the law) [sing.] used to refer to the police and the legal system: Jim is always getting into trouble with the law. * She was well known for her brushes with the law. of organization / activity 6 [C] one of the rules which controls an organization or activity: the laws of the Church * The first law of kung fu is to defend. * the laws of cricket * the laws of war of good behaviour 7 [C] a rule for good behaviour or how you should behave in a particular place or situation: moral laws * the unspoken laws of the street in business / nature / science 8 [C] the fact that sth always happens in the same way in an activity or in nature: the laws of supply and demand * the law of gravity 9 [C] a scientific rule that sb has stated to explain a natural process: the first law of thermodynamics see also MURPHY'S LAW, PARKINSON'S LAW, SOD'S LAW, LEGAL, LEGALIZE, LEGISLATE IDIOMS be a law unto yourself to behave in an independent way and ignore rules or what other people want you to do: Boys of that age are a law unto themselves. go to law (BrE) to ask a court of law to settle a problem or disagreement: They went to law to get back their property. law and order a situation in which people obey the law and behave in a peaceful way: The government struggled to maintain law and order. * After the riots, the military was brought in to restore law and order. * They claim to be the party of law and order. the law of averages the principle that one thing will happen as often as another if you try enough times: Keep applying and by the law of averages you'll get a job sooner or later. the law of the jungle a situation in which people are prepared to harm other people in order to succeed: These criminal gangs only recognize the law of the jungle. lay down the law to tell sb what they should or should not do, in a forceful way: My dad started laying down the law about what time I should come home. take the law into your own hands to do sth illegal in order to punish sb for doing sth wrong, instead of letting the police deal with them: After a series of burglaries in the area, the police are worried that residents might take the law into their own hands. there's no law against sth (spoken) used to tell sb who is criticizing you that you are not doing anything wrong: I'll sing if I want to-there's no law against it. more at LETTER n., RULE n., WRONG adj. Dying declaration :: Its probative value::A dying declaration although a piece of substantive evidence has always been viewed with some degree of caution as the matter is not liable to cross-examination. It stands on the same footing as any other pieces of evidence ad has to be judged in the light of surrounding circumstances and common human experience. When there is a record of such statement of the deceased the court has to satisfy itself, in the first place, as to the genuineness of the same keeping in view all the evidence and circumstances in which the statement of the deceased was said to have been recorded. The alleged dying declaration , the only piece of evidence against the appellant, having not been free from reasonable doubt, the accused is entitled to the benefit of doubt.
Sk.Shamsur Rahaman Vs. The State (1990) 42 DLR 200. Dying declaration – statement of a person about the cause of his death or circumstances leading to his death is substantive evidence under section 32(I) of the Evidence Act- if found reliable , it may by itself be basis for conviction even without corroboration. Statement falling u/s. 32(I) of the Evidence Act is called a “Dying Declaration” in ordinary parlance- A dying declaration may be recorded by any person who available and it may be written or it may be verbal or it may be indicated by signs and gestures in answer to questions even – There is no requirement of law that a dying declaration should be recorded by a Magistrate as in the case of the confessional statement of an accused under section 164(3) of Cr.P.C. Nurjahan Begum Vs. The State (1990) 42 DLR 130. Legislature in its wisdom has put a dying declaration at per with evidence on oath for the simple reason that a man under the apprehension of s death is not likely to speak falsehood and involve innocent persons in preference to his assailant. When a probationary officer actually recorded the statement in presence of, and under the observation of, the Superior office, there was hardly any wrong in his evidence that he recorded it in presence of witnesses. Nurjahan Begum Vs. The State (1990) 42 DLR 130. Dying Declaration :: Recorded not as utteredThe investigation officer who recorded the dying declaration of the deceased deposed that as the Bengali of the deceased was not correct, he improved the language retaining the full sense of what the deceased had spoken. The Held: The dying declaration is not admissible. Rejan Ali Vs. Crown (1955) 7 DLR 141. Expectation of death :: Not necessary::For admissibility of statement , a person should not necessarily be under exception of death when he made it. Statement with regard to the cause of death of another person injured in the same transaction in which the person making the statement was injured is also admissible. Mian Khan Vs. Crown (1954) 9 DLR 6. Dying declaration :: Its evidentiary Value ::Dying declaration – when admitted under section 32 of the Evidence Act stands on the same footing as any other evidence as to its value and credibility. Tera Mia Vs. Crown (1955) 7 DLR 537 A diary kept by the accused , on which the prosecution placed reliance, as produced to prove:` 1. That the deceased was married to the accused and continued to be his wife till her death when she was pregnant from him for about two weeks. 2. That in view of his impending marriage elsewhere, the accused was insistent that the deceased must have an abortion and leave the city. 3. That for some time before the deceased’s death the accused had started threating her with death in case she refused to carry out the aforementioned wishes of the accused. 4. That the accused actually made attempts on the life of the deceased before she actually died on the 7th of December 1953. The Held: The diary is admissible in evidence. 1956 PLD (Lah) 300. -- Letter written by the deceased prior to the occurrence showing relationship with the accused- admissible. Ghulam Ahamed Kan Vs. State (1958) 10DLR 55. Related articles
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AuthorMd. Shahnewaz Zwaki Advocate The Supreme Court of Bangladesh (High Court Division). Archives
June 2020
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