DOT Desk: Violence against women across the country showed little sign of decreasing in 2018, reports The Daily Sun.
Last year, women faced various forms of violence, including rape, acid attack, assault and killing.
Statistics of Bangladesh Mohila Parishad (BMP) shows that at least 3,918 women and girls fell victim to different types of violence, including rape and torture, across the country last year.
As many as 697 women and girls were raped and 182 gang-raped while 63 others were killed after rape. Offenders also tried to rape 128 women, it said.
of them, 53 women fell victim to rape in January, 52 in February, 73 in March, 70 in April, 74 in May, 83 in June, 89 in July, 59 in August, 45 in September, 48 in October, 39 in November and 12 in December.
Some 146 women were victims of sexual abuse while 71 others got assaulted across the country. At least 16 women fell victim to acid violence.
At least 145 women were abducted. Twenty-six women were trafficked abroad while 15 women and girls were sold to brothels. About 102 women were killed for dowry and 110 others were tortured for their refusal to pay dowry last year.
Fifty-eight domestic help were killed while 25 others tortured and four others committed suicide.
A total of 488 women and girls were killed due to various reasons while 377 women died from mysterious incidents in 2018.
A total of 258 women and girls committed suicide across the country in 2018. A total of 157 women and girls were victims of stalking while 14 women committed suicide due to stalking.
Last year, 141 child marriages took place and 12 women were tortured due to Fatwa, the BMP report said.
Incidents of repression and harassment on women and children and rape incidents hit newspaper headlines in 2018 raising great concern among the rights activists.
Rights activists said a culture of impunity, biasness of law enforcers and administration, social and political unrest, drug addiction and lack of awareness are major contributors for rise in violence against women.
Mostafa Sohel Ahmed, executive director of Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR), said to the daily sun that violence against women reached at its worst level in the previous year.
He blamed the culture of impunity, political unrest, social degradation, absence of enough cultural activities, lack of human values, impact of foreign serial, and technology, for rise in violence against women countrywide.
“We have been demanding for formation of special tribunal for quick disposal of the cases for giving exemplary punishment to the culprits in a bid to curb the menace.”
He said, “Despite women’s empowerment, violence against women still remains a matter of great concern and the culprits are getting released through legal loopholes.”
“Pro-liberation forces have come to power. They should increase their vigil and everyone should come forward to stop violence against women”, he added Incidents of violence against women got press coverage round the year, but the issue further came into fore at the end of the year after a mother of four children was allegedly gang-raped by miscreants on Sunday night in Noakhali for casting vote for a certain political party during Sunday’s general election.
Different rights organisations expressed great concern over the incident and sought punishment of the criminals.
The National Human Rights Commission Chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque said on Tuesday that they would investigate the incident if the Election Commission fails to do so.
While talking to the daily sun, human rights lawyer Advocate Salma Ali said: “Violence against women is still continuing like previous years as no woman-friendly environment exists.”
She said: “Victims are not getting proper assistance and protection from the family and society. They are also not getting proper help from the law enforcement agencies.”
Salma, also former executive director of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association, said: “Police stations and courts are yet to become woman-friendly and the number of women support centres is not that much.”
“In many cases, culprits get released after committing crimes as they are very influential.”
The rights activist said, “Law enforcers have failed miserably to take proper measures to stop violence against women as offenders usually roam scot-free in society although there exists strong laws in this regard.”
Mentioning lack of coordination in stopping violence against women, she said: “A mutual cell is needed for coordination. Adequate allocation is also needed for victims’ support.”
“Culprits escape punishment due to backlog of cases and it encourages them to commit crimes again and again.”
Salma Ali suggested for exemplary punishment to the culprits and creating women-friendly environment through creation of awareness regarding the issue.