Orientation meeting with journalists on Village Court Act and Gender Issues in Noakhali
Tanmoya Das, Deputy Commissioner, Noakhali asked journalists to publish more news on services of Village Court, cases of its jurisdiction, appeal, fee, facilities etc. to motivate rural people in resolving petty cases locally rather than heading towards police stations or district courts. As a chief guest, he spoke in an orientation meeting with journalists on Village Court Act and Gender Issues led by district administration with support of Activating Village Courts in Bangladesh Phase II (AVCB II) Project on 9th March 2020 in the district. Local Government Division is implementing the project with financial support of European Union, Government of Bangladesh and UNDP.
As a special guest Tariqul Alam, Additional District Magistrate remarked, people can avail services from Village Courts with only BDT 10 or 20 as fees, which should be widely promoted by media for encouraging rural people. Dipak Khisa, Additional Police Super of the district, as a special guest of the event appealed journalists to raise commitment among union parishad’s chairmen to resolve cases within jurisdiction of the Village Court.
The orientation meeting was chaired by Md. Abdur Rouf Mondol, Deputy Director Local Government (DDLG) of Noakhali in presence of 60 journalists from various national and local media houses of the district. Md Khalilur Rahman, Chairman of Ekhlaspur Union, Begamganj, Noakhali and Badiul Alam, a beneficiary of Char Elahi union of the district described their experiences on services of Village Courts. Participants journalists asked questions on decision making process, appeal, women participation issues etc. on Village Court. Arpona Ghosh, Communications and Outreach Specialist of AVCB II spoke about its successes in 27 districts while, AHM Akram Hossain, District Facilitator of the project assisted DDLG to present various issues on Village Court Act and Gender.