Over 74,000 cases pending in family courts

Despite over 74,000 pending cases in family courts across the country, the judiciary is witnessing a decisive shift towards efficiency and citizen-centric service, said Chief Justice Syed Refaat Ahmed yesterday.

As of March 31, 2025, there were 74,259 pending cases in family courts, with 5,034 of these pending for over five years -- a "sobering figure", he acknowledged.

The system delivered 10,089 case disposals in the first quarter of 2025 alone, said the chief justice.

"This is not coincidence; it is consequence. It is the result of judges taking initiative, bar leaders acting responsibly, and our institutional focus shifting from process to people," he said.

He made the remarks while addressing the National Workshop on "Addressing the Procedural Bottlenecks in Family Courts for Timely Justice", organised by BRAC's Social Empowerment and Legal Protection (SELP) Programme at the BRAC Centre Auditorium in Dhaka.

The chief justice said Bangladesh's legal landscape is undergoing a profound transformation.

"Recent legal and procedural reforms aim not just to modernise the justice system, but to make it more efficient, accountable, and focused on serving citizens," he said.

He pointed to the amendment of the Legal Aid Act, which now requires mandatory mediation before filing a case.

This, he said, marks a major shift from traditional litigation to resolving disputes through mutual agreement, helping settle cases earlier and reducing pressure on the courts.

Amendments to the Civil Procedure Code have reduced procedural stages, integrated execution proceedings within the original case framework, and imposed stricter limits on adjournments to address longstanding delays, he added.

He further emphasised the need for administrative autonomy, stating, "No justice system can manage timeliness, workloads, or personnel without autonomy over its own administrative structure."

Structural independence, he added, is essential for sustaining reforms within the judiciary and across broader governance systems.

Highlighting digital innovations, he said digitised cause lists, adjournment tracking, and SMS-based summons notifications have already shown positive results in pilot districts and will soon be extended to family courts.

"With digital summons authenticated through the National ID system and supported by a judicial helpdesk, service of process will no longer become a pretext for delay," he said.

Addressing the workshop, Appellate Division Judge Justice Farah Mahbub said, "When a child's custody is left undecided for years, when a destitute woman's claim for maintenance remains unresolved, and when parties are left entangled in prolonged litigation, the social cost is profound and may be irreversible."

She reiterated that justice in family courts is not about winning or losing -- it is about healing. As part of this system, she stressed the need to make justice accessible, empathetic, and swift.

She proposed key measures to strengthen family justice, including establishing specialised family courts with concurrent civil and criminal authority in each jurisdiction to ensure procedural coherence and reduce fragmentation.

Additionally, she called for targeted amendments to clarify procedural ambiguities in the Family Courts Act, institutionalisation of mandatory pre-trial mediation with trained mediators and female counsellors, and allowing alternative dispute resolution during appeals.

Justice Mahbub also stressed the need for support from psychologists and social workers in sensitive cases, along with mandatory trauma-informed training for judges and lawyers.

She highlighted the importance of full digitisation -- such as case tracking dashboards, online notice delivery, and video conferencing -- to help migrant families and working women, allowing them to submit digital evidence throughout the legal process.

BRAC Executive Director Asif Saleh said a just and equitable society is only possible when every woman and girl is free to realise her potential, unshackled by harmful socio-cultural norms.

He noted that BRAC's approach -- encompassing community mobilisation, capacity building, and policy advocacy -- aims to dismantle structural barriers that keep justice out of reach for many, particularly women and marginalised groups.

In response to procedural bottlenecks in family courts, BRAC organised five workshops earlier this year, bringing together 117 judges and 10 lawyers from 51 districts to identify practical solutions to delays.

Recommendations from the workshops included making pre-trial alternative dispute resolution mandatory and legally binding, involving local authorities in the summons process, allowing decree enforcement within the same case to remove the need for separate execution suits, and digitalising marriage registration to prevent disputes over marital status.

Other proposals included requiring a 50 percent deposit to file appeals to discourage frivolous cases, setting fixed timeframes for case disposal, expanding the jurisdiction of family courts to cover inheritance, domestic violence, and dowry-related matters, and codifying Hindu family laws with mandatory registration of Hindu marriages.In her welcome remarks, Shashwatee Biplob, associate director of BRAC's SELP and Gender Justice and Diversity Programme, said these collective efforts are a meaningful step toward restoring public trust in the justice system, upholding the dignity of survivors, and building a more just, inclusive, and equitable society.

The event was moderated by ATM Morshed Alam, lead of Legal Aid and Policy Advocacy at SELP.