Women usually feel safe when they are with their parents or husbands.
On September 25, a woman visited Sylhet city with her belief in such a principle. But some men with bestial behaviour shattered that belief and established the fact that in Bangladesh, women are not safe even when they are with their parents or husbands.
The woman’s husband was tied up and she was reportedly gang-raped by a group of Chhatra League men on the hostel premises of Murari Chand (MC) College in Sylhet.
Numerous rape cases have been reported recently in a very short period of time. Even disabled women and children have not been spared.
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In many of these cases, the women and children were gang-raped.
At least 975 individuals were raped in the last nine months, among whom 208 were victims of gang-rape, according to the civil rights organization Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK).
It means that on average around 23 women have been gang-raped every month over the last nine months in Bangladesh.
ASK compiled the data by reviewing news reports carried by various media outlets.
According to the ASK report, 6 individuals between the ages of 7 and 12, 52 between 13 and 18, 22 between 19 and 24, 7 between 25 and 30, and 7 over the age of 30 were gang-raped during this period. The ages of the remaining 114 victims were not mentioned in the report.
Countrywide protests
Human rights activists and people concerned have said instances of rape and violence against women have been continuing due to the culture of impunity, delay in the disposal of cases, involvement of influential quarters and activists of the ruling party, and inaction of law enforcers.
Students from various institutions and women took to the streets to protest these incidents across the country.
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Some gathered in the capital's Shahbagh area, demanding fair trials in all rape cases. Others demanded the resignation of the home minister over his failure to take action.
The protestors said rape victims could not get justice because the powerful and the influential were involved in these incidents. Often, even the police hesitated to arrest them. The ones that did get arrested were released on bail most of the time.
They said incidents of rape would not stop until exemplary punishment was ensured for the perpetrators. As things stand, rapists know they can get away with it.
Nur Khan Liton, a prominent human rights activist and former ASK executive director, said: “Law enforcement is not transparent enough. In too many cases, criminals get away with it. This is due to the involvement of political players in these crimes.”
He said it was unfortunate that political leaders were looking for conspiracies in these protests, trying to dress them up as false accusations from rival parties.
This had resulted in the actual messages not getting through, he added.
The general population also no longer trusted the state and the administration because of the existing culture of impunity, Liton further said.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan denied the accusations of negligence and said all cases were being dealt with swiftly and the accused were handed maximum punishment based on the law.
On September 19, a 13-year-old child was forcibly picked up in Tangail and gang-raped by three youths, two of whom are still at large.
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A group of men allegedly entered a 40-year-old woman's room and raped her in Shamimabad area in Sylhet city on Saturday. Police later arrested two for their alleged involvement in the gang-rape the next day.
A gang-rape that shook the nation occurred in Joykrishnapur village under Eklaspur union in Noakhali's Begumganj upazila on September 2.
Video footage of five men raping the woman went viral on social media platforms on Sunday and raised concerns among netizens.
Fauzia Moslem, acting president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP), at a “Samajik Protirodh Committee” human chain on Tuesday, said: “In the Noakhali incident, the woman was not raped, the administration and the lawmakers were raped. The rape epidemic will not stop until the lawmakers respond.”
“As long as lawmakers are with these forces, there will be no rape trial.
Laws must be enacted to hold legislators accountable for any crimes or rapes in the area; they have to be held accountable in parliament,” she added.