A discussion on the village court system was held with journalists at the Rajshahi Deputy Commissioner's conference room on Tuesday afternoon. Photo: BSS

RAJSHAHI, Dec 2, 2025 (BSS) - Speakers at a meeting here today unanimously mentioned that making the village courts effective can be the crucial means of reducing the case backlogs.
 
Village courts have been ensuring justice for rural people and contributing to peace and harmony at the grassroots level.

Administrative officials and experts made the observations while sharing views with journalists on how to make the village courts for the welfare of the grassroots litigants.

The district administration, as part of the implementation of the "Activation of Village Court in Bangladesh (Third Phase)" project, organized the workshop at the conference hall of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) office to discuss and devise ways to achieve this goal.

DC Afia Akhter addressed the meeting as the chief guest, while Deputy Director of Local Government Zakiul Islam was in the chair.

During his keynote presentation, National Project Coordinator Bibhash Chakraverty gave an illustration on the project along with its aims, objectives and implementation strategy.

He also explained that the village court is a semi-formal judicial system for resolving minor disputes at the local level.

Legal Expert Barrister Moshiur Rahman Chowdhury, District Manager Lutfor Rahman and Project Coordinator of Eco-social Development Organization Maruf Ahmed also spoke, disseminating their expertise on the issue.

DC Afia Akhter agreed that integrated efforts by all concerned can be the best way of making village courts more gender-sensitive, inclusive, and people-friendly.

She added that the courts play a vital role in ensuring access to justice for rural women, allowing them to obtain justice easily and at low cost.

Afia Akhter said the village courts work to provide the rural poor, women, and other vulnerable groups with a local and accessible justice system, which is often intimidating and costly in formal courts.

She also sought full-scale support of the media people in the field of making the village courts effective so that the people can derive total benefits from it. 

The main aim of village courts is to provide rural communities with accessible, affordable, and speedy justice for minor civil and criminal disputes by settling them locally, thereby reducing the burden on formal courts and fostering social peace.
 
The meeting was informed that 6,166 cases were recorded and 5,965 of the cases were settled during the period from February 2024 to October 2025 and 1,651 women-related cases were also disposed of.

Under the project intervention, around Taka 7.64 crore were realized as compensation in addition to recovering 1057 decimal lands.