Speakers at a meeting yesterday underscored the need for specific laws for protecting marital rape victims as there is no law on this at present.
They also said the government had formulated laws on violence against women and children but the victims did not get the justice due to them because of loopholes in the law.
They were addressing a discussion organised by banglatribune at the auditorium of University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh in the capital.
Fifty-two countries have formulated laws on marital rape including England and the US, the speakers noted.
They identified the prevalence of pornography and the growth of social media as one of the key reasons of rape, including marital rape, and said the media should play a vital role in creating awareness among people across the country.
Speakers said the people in the country receive no sex education before getting married but this should be provided by the family and is necessary for all, especially the poor.
The government should introduce sex education in the national curriculum for both boys and girls which would help them prepare for conjugal life.
Advocate Salma Ali said marital rape is a very sensitive issue and a few of such incidents are taken to court from the bedroom.
“The government has formulated laws but due to the lack of proper implementation, the rapists can escape conviction using the loopholes of the laws,” she said.
Lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua said the existing have various complexities, adding that preventing marital rape only through formulating laws is not possible.
“The government added a new provision in the women and children repression act in 2010 which has the option for compromise in crimes like rape. So how can it be a strong law?” he said.
The lawyer underscored the need for social awareness in the matter.
Online activist Supriti Dhar said most of the girls have no idea what sex education is and many do not know that marital rape is an offense. She said the press and the social media should cover these issues to make people more aware of the subject.
Dr Salauddin Kausar of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University said sex education is needed for solving the problem of marital rape in the country.
“Sexual problems arise when a couple do not communicate with each other and when they have no sex education,” he said.
Rights activist Elina Khan said marital rape is the result of child marriage and lack of counseling.
“Sex education must be included in the national curriculum and parents should counsel the children on this before marrying them off,” she said.
Academic and columnist Salimullah Khan said there are two types of violence - executive violence and law preserving violence.
“The dominant one puts pressure on the one who is weak. It has been like this since the period of slavery and rape bears resemblance to that,” he said.
Pro-VC of ULAB AHM Zahirul Haque, editor of Saptahik Kagoj Jabbar Hossain and Ruchira Tabassum Naved, a researcher at the Centre for Equity and Health Systems, addressed the discussion among others.