Amrai Pari Paribarik Nirjaton Protirodh Jote (WE CAN), a civil society body, has said that harassment of women for dress code in public places has been put into the process of normalization through a court observation regarding the incident that took place at Narsingdi railway station recently.
Such observation will put women in public places at more risk in the future, We Can said in a statement on Wednesday.
Women rights group Ain O Salish Kendra also condemned the court observations as unconstitutional and said that it goes against the government’s initiatives of empowering women.
On May 18, a female student of a private university in Dhaka was subjected to physical assault and abusive words by a woman and other men for wearing jeans and sleeveless tops as she was waiting for a train to return to the capital.
On May 30, members of Rapid Action Batallion (RAB) arrested Shila Akhter Marzia for assaulting the student.
The High Court on Tuesday questioned whether anyone wearing such a dress can go to the railway station in a civilized country while granting bail to Marzia.
We Can thinks that such an observation is conflicting with the constitutional and democratic rights of women. The observation also upholds the medieval mentality and male dominance in the society, the press release said.