In village settings in countries like Bangladesh, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) involves non-judicial methods for resolving disputes, typically rooted in local customs and social norms. This approach is especially important in rural areas where access to formal legal systems may be limited or ineffective. Here, ADR focused the solution of disputes or disagreements through consultation, negotiations and mediation through community involvement among the parties involved. It focuses on the active participation of the parties outside the confines of the typical adjudicationprocess. Whether it is a usual personal issue in day-to-day existence or absorbing legal confrontations, there is no better and more practical substitute for alternative methods. As the nation grows with the times, the options for resolving legal disputes have expanded significantly. The limitations of conventional court systems have increasingly drawn individuals toward ADR. In context of rural area, country like Bangladesh,the Salish or panchayet is a common form of resolving dispute alternatively, where local leaders or elders come forward and aim to provide a solution for the dispute that both parties can rely on. Both parties are heard, and a solution is given; sometimes, punishment in various forms and various prohibitory instructions are issued. It deals with various family and social issues like domestic violence, theft, eve-teasing, harm, etc. The courts and judicial framework here have not yet become sufficiently robust, in comparision to resolveing dispute within the locality. However, the practical implications in rural area still need to be questioned.Though appearently, dispute seems to be negotiated, does it really done in its actual terms.
While, most of the cases involve women as parties, womens voice as a party of the dispute or negotitator is missing. While, the process of shalis or panchayet requires a representative, the very first problem women face in such Salish in rural areas is to select their representatives. Because , it is not common where a female representative lead the process. In most cases, all the members of the process are men. Even women are scarcely a part, and the whole process is male dominating. When a men represents women in such cases, more emotional understanding is often required due to inherent gender differences in emotional expression and perception. Even the male represents female, he thinks from male perspective of the incident, a predominant patriarcy dominant view may visible. Further more, if a woman chooses to represent herself or to be vocal about her side of the story, there comes another obstacle of victim blaming.
It is the culture of the rural area that they think domestic violence and other torture of women is a natural thing. It is well accepted in such areas that the husband can beat or dominate the wife. Infact, not the husband but the wife is considered to be a rebel or brat in such an incident. For them, It is a shame that women are raising voices against a man.After facing the barriers of social norms and cultural biases, when a woman raises her voice against men or society, then comes the grave issue of the solution, what is the ultimate solution? Should she leave her husband or give him another chance? If yes, then at what cost? In most cases, negotiations make things more complicated. Furthermore, if a woman leaves her husband by such negotiation, her acceptance in society becomes a puzzle. Even if she continues her conjugal life, she faces backlash from her own family for taking actions against her husband.
Lack of knowledge and inadequate consultancy play a strong negative role here. In most of the cases, a woman from a rural area does not have any single clue about her legal rights. She remains clueless about her position when she is deprived of anything or her legal rights are violated. For example, suppose her husband or any male beats her, or she faces eve teasing, or she is deprived of her paternal properties; In such cases, sometimes she does not even know that such rights exist in her favor, and if they are violated, she is entitled to various legal remedies.
When a salish is conducted in rural areas, the jury and the members belong to the dominating parts of the society. It is scarcely possible and rare for a woman to lead dispute resulation. Even if a woman is a part of a dispute or a member of resolation process, she remains a dummy. When all the circumstantial impediments are crossed by any means, the final stage of the solution comes. In the majority of the incidents, the problem is solved, and solutions are provided. But are those solutions really useful and practically effective? In the cases of domestic violence, husband and wife can resolve the problem through salish or panchayet resolation, but does it actually stop domestic violence againt her? After that, what happens between the husband and wife remains unseen in most cases. Again in the cases of rape and eve-teasing, the most probable solution given is to marry the victim woman to the accused man. In such cases, it is assumed that if a woman is raped or even teased, her dignity is over, and it becomes very challenging to marry that woman or to get a normal life for that woman. So they think marrying that woman to that criminal will normalize the situation and protect her dignity. Whatever the man does or however his character is, at least the woman will get so-called social protection with dignity. But does it actually help to settle or encourage the criminal? Remains unanswered. Now the question arises: Is everything about society? The answer is no. Social norms, Culturalbarriers,Circumstantial impediments, etc, are just some roadblocks,but the journey relies upon the woman; if she does not even start her journey on the road, all the roadblocks become fictional. In many situations,women do not even try to raise their voices in fear of social reacti on. In many cases, they know about their position and rights, but they do not attempt to negotiate or speak out for fear of victim blaming. Those incidents are very common for women from rural areas to think that domestic violence, eve teasing, dowry, etc, are part and parcel of our social life.Sometimes, her close persons like her mother, in-laws who is also a woman becomes the one to pull her down.Lack of education, awareness, and confidence becomes a major fact here; her dependency on other men stops her from calling out her side of the story.In the end, not only understanding the social and cultural loopholes but also understanding the roots of the problem is more important.
Though it is called alternative dispute resolution, the focus should be on resolving dispute in practice . Rather than highlighting the fault of the man or woman in a salish, the spotlight should be on a realistic and functional solution, not only targeting the dispute resolution , but also covering the post-resolution phrase. And here comes importance of women representative in the resolation process. To make understand the male parties, women representative needs to convey the long term effective solution. Furthermore, only they may ensures the unique perspectives and needs of a women which need to be considered. A representation of will empower the parties of dispute to express their core difficulties and voice their concerns solution. Even, they will be acceptable counselling of a representative, in contrast often ignored male representativeness. Furthermore, basic understanding of her rights may aid a woman to advocate for herself, seek justice, and to face the challenge of discriminatory practices. Moreover, when she is empowered and self-aware, she may be more likely to stand up for herself, resulting in more positive and practical solutions.
Be it man or woman, ensuring that both parties are acknowledged and woman are not deprived , we may pave the way for a nondiscriminatory and inclusive society, where equity and equality is valued and respected. Such an atmosphere will encourages not only rural development but also upgrade the infrastructure benefiting the whole community.
Md. Farhan Rashed
(Md. Farhan Rashed is a dedicated lecturer at Uttara University’s Department of Law, with academic qualifications including an LLB and LLM from the prestigious University of Dhaka. His expertise lies in legal education, where he contributes to the development of future legal professionals.)
