<p>The Dhaka High Court directed the authorities concerned to explain why they failed to protect the teenager who was raped and then whipped following the fatwa (religious edict) by local Muslim clerics, Daily Star reported. <br /><br />The officials in Shariatpur in Dhaka Division in central Bangladesh must explain within 15 days their failure to protect the 14-year-old, said the bench of Justice A.H.M. Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Sheikh Mohammed Zakir Hossain. <br /><br />The high court had about eight months back declared issuing of fatwa illegal and a cognisable offence. <br /><br />The media report said that the victim was raped by her 40-year-old relative Mahbub Sunday. On Monday, a fatwa was announced at a village arbitration that she must be given 100 lashes. She fell unconscious after nearly 80 lashes.<br /><br />She was taken to Naria health complex where she succumbed to her injuries.<br />Supreme Court lawyer Seema Zahur Wednesday placed before the high court bench a media report on the incident on behalf of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association.<br />Bangladesh is an Islamic Republic with nearly 90 percent Muslim population.</p>
<p>The Dhaka High Court directed the authorities concerned to explain why they failed to protect the teenager who was raped and then whipped following the fatwa (religious edict) by local Muslim clerics, Daily Star reported. <br /><br />The officials in Shariatpur in Dhaka Division in central Bangladesh must explain within 15 days their failure to protect the 14-year-old, said the bench of Justice A.H.M. Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Sheikh Mohammed Zakir Hossain. <br /><br />The high court had about eight months back declared issuing of fatwa illegal and a cognisable offence. <br /><br />The media report said that the victim was raped by her 40-year-old relative Mahbub Sunday. On Monday, a fatwa was announced at a village arbitration that she must be given 100 lashes. She fell unconscious after nearly 80 lashes.<br /><br />She was taken to Naria health complex where she succumbed to her injuries.<br />Supreme Court lawyer Seema Zahur Wednesday placed before the high court bench a media report on the incident on behalf of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association.<br />Bangladesh is an Islamic Republic with nearly 90 percent Muslim population.</p>