Batighata schoolgirl: Policemen have been sexually harassing me for five years

Policemen stationed at the temporary police outpost near a high school in Khulna's Batiaghata upazila have allegedly been sexually harassing schoolgirls for years, but the schoolgirls have kept silent about it out of fear. Several students of Kharabad Baintola School and College complained about the policemen when the Dhaka Tribune spoke to them on Wednesday. They said the outpost is located behind the school, inside the union parishad office compound. From the outpost, policemen often make vulgar comments and gestures at them – sometimes at students as young as sixth graders. “It started when I was in Class VI,” said one of the students who is now in Class X. “At that time, I did not understand what their comments meant. But when I got into Class X, I started understanding how indecent their comments were.” She said when she realized that the policemen were making vulgar comments which amounted to sexual harassment, she informed her father and brother two months ago. “They [the police members] have been harassing me for five years,” the 10th grader complained. Another 10th grader said she was frequently whistled at by the policemen when she was in Class VIII. “There is a deep tube-well beside the school that we use to drink water. The policemen can see us from their outpost's window, and they keep asking us for water, and why we are drinking water without giving some to them. They constantly try to engage us in conversation,” she added. A ninth grader said: “There is a pond behind our school which the police from the outpost use to bathe. Whenever they see us, they ask us to join them in the pond. Often, they walk back to the outpost after taking a bath half-naked.” The students said they wanted only female police members to be stationed at the outpost.

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The sexual harassment went on to the point that the brother of a 10th grader formally raised a complaint against the policemen from the outpost for harassing his sister – only to be beaten up by five of the policemen who also vandalized his shop. This incident led Khulna police authorities to close 12 policemen and attach them with the police line. However, despite the school students' complaints about rampant harassment by the law enforcers, there has been no official complaints against them due to fear of further harassment and, like Tuesday's incident, violent assault. Ali Ahmed, director of a coaching centre near the school, also claimed that schoolgirls getting sexually harassed by the policemen was a common occurrence in the locality. “No one dared complain because they were afraid of police. The issue was raised before Batiaghata police station OC on several occasions, but the outpost in-charge never took any warning seriously,” Ali told the Dhaka Tribune. “In fact, the in-charge would harass the local people further if anyone complained about the sexual harassment. These policemen frequently asked the girls for their mobile phone numbers.” The union parishad complex behind Kharabad Baniatola School and College in Batiaghata, Khulna where a temporary police outpost is located Dhaka TribuneWhen asked about the complaints, the school's assistant teacher, Md Atiar Rahman, said: “Two years ago, we received a complaint about a policeman harassing our students. At that time, that police member was transferred from the outpost. However, since then we have heard about several incidents of policemen harassing the schoolgirls, but no one has taken them seriously, especially as a new team of policemen are sent to the outpost every three months. Also, the students have not filed a complaint.” Abul Kashem, the principal, said: “We have received no written or verbal complaints about the harassment yet, which is why we did not take this issue seriously. “Since this issue became public, the police officials themselves took strict action. Moving the outpost from this area is not the solution as doing so would put the security of the locality at risk. The outpost is necessary, just like it is necessary to dole out appropriate punishment for those who harass our students.” When contacted in this regard, Batiaghata OC Mozammel Haque confirmed that the 12 accused policemen had been closed immediately after the allegations were raised on Tuesday, and 14 new police members were deployed at the outpost on the same day. “Khulna Additional Superintendent of Police Sajib Khan has been given the responsibility to investigate this issue and submit a report within seven days. Based on that report, the superintendent of police will take necessary actions,” he added.