Dhaka city. Every day there are many people on the road, rushing to work. Not only men, but also women are working in the city, and most of them use public transport. But is public transport safe for them? Is the city itself safe for women?
Public transport is one of the biggest problems for women. Rush hour in Dhaka takes place over two time slots -- one is in the morning from 8-10am, when people rush to attend office/school and another is 5-8 pm, when regular office hour ends. Travel during rush hour is a dreadful experience for most people, but for working women, it is a more daunting experience.
Public transport system is in a dire state. And for women, the system is even more horrible because during rush hour, people try to get on the bus by any means necessary. Often, there are no queues or discipline, which makes getting on the bus even tougher for women.
There are nine seats in every bus which are reserved for female passengers, but it has become a matter of joke. Most of the time, women face problems to get those seats because the reserved seats are often occupied by male passengers. When a woman requests the men to vacate the seat, she is often subjected to harassment.
Though BRTC (Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation) has “women only” buses in the city, the buses are very few in number compared to the working women in the city. In addition, these buses do not maintain a fixed time schedule or a permanent route.
The public transport system in Dhaka is not women-friendly. Harassment and humiliation have become the norm.
After dusk, the city becomes extremely dangerous for working women. Several months ago, two women were gang-raped in a running micro-bus in Uttara.
The victims went to the police and filed cases, and fortunately, the culprits were finally arrested. But in most cases, such victims don’t have the courage to go to the police.
There are also serious problems regarding security when it comes to using public toilets. There are no usable and secure public toilets for women in the city. Though the new mayors of the city promised to improve the situation, there have not been any significant changes in this regard.
Not only in everyday life, but the general situation has worsened for women even in festivals and public gatherings. How can we forget how several women were harassed in Dhaka University’s TSC on Pohela Boishakh last year?
Even after so many months, the police have failed to make any headway to detain and arrest the offenders of the said incident, even though the IGP of police told the media that they have the CCTV footage of the incident, and were able to identify some of the offenders.
Several student organisations protested against the offenders and demanded immediate justice, but police remained inactive and did not probe and investigate the matter further.
Even at the scene of the incident, other students helped the victims, while members of the police force stood dormant. Police should do their jobs by being more active and ensuring security for women in public places.
Several months ago, a biker gang in Motijheel AGB colony killed a woman. A government employee was the victim.
Police arrested the main culprit, though the family of the dead woman said that they had been threatened so that they would withdraw the complaint.
If criminals and offenders always get bail or remain free after committing heinous crimes, then no one can stop them. They will commit more crimes, and they will become more violent.
It is the duty of law enforcement agencies to arrest and detain such miscreants. It is also the responsibility of the public to protest against the criminals and ensure safety of women everywhere in the country.
In such situations, we should increase public awareness. A social movement can bring about an effective change. The number of police officers is inadequate compared to the size of our population. There is corruption. Most criminals commit crimes with some kind of protection.
It is extremely regrettable that our society does not support the liberty of women, and so working women face harassment on roads every day.
If we acknowledge the severity of the general situation for women, cases of harassment will decrease in number.
It is our responsibility to make our city safe for women, because if half of the population of Bangladesh suffers from a lack of safety, the country simply cannot move forward.
