Osman Gani, Journalist and Columnist:
Is the number of murder and rape in the country rising or falling? Everyday events and average statistics are evidence to this fact. Why isn’t it decreasing? Or why are security forces not able to reinforce preventive measures? They are unable to confirm anything; otherwise instances of rape would’ve fallen. Do rape cases even shake us? I don’t think so, because there is no public reaction after such events, as if this is the new normal.
We all know by now about the rape of Rupa on a Tangail bus a few months ago. She was first gangraped by barbarians, then murdered. And in the middle of the legal proceedings, another, almost-similar, rape occurred. Recently, a disabled girl was raped. She cannot say anything other than her name and district. The savage act took place on a Thursday night on August 30 at the Dhaka-Tangail Bangabandhu highway. The bus left Tangail and was carrying passengers at the eastward bus station of the Bangabandhu Bridge. The girl had stayed behind even when all of the passengers got off the bus in the middle of the route. Even an intellectually disabled girl couldn’t escape the grasp of a few perverse and depraved people. She too was gangraped. It was later found out that the bus driver, supervisor and helper were connected to this heinous act. Are there any words to denounce such a crime? No.
We could view rape as a disease, and rapists as mentally perverse patients. The number of these sick people is increasing, not decreasing, day by day. Now what can be done to solve this? We must alter our mentality. Preventive measures by the administration and we must ensure that they are adopted. We have to instill confidence that women will be able to freely walk the streets, without facing obstacles. Society must unite against rapists. This will close all doors for them. We all have to do this together now.
Translated by Abrar Hussain