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No Let-up in Sexual Assault on Women

by Md Asadullah Khan
***Shockingly, the existing laws do not go very much in favour of the victim. Most of the cases, if instituted, end up being a tortuous process with hardly any protection and support coming from any quarters***
TRAUMATIC and frightening tn cidences of rape, arson and killing are reported in the pages of dailies with sickening regularity. Rapists are targeting the women In all possible places, molesting them even in presence of their parents and husbands to get some perverse pleasure. Sexual harassment, as such, in homes and fields and workplaces is no longer every victim's secret. According to reports made 6ublic by the Police epartment. in the year 1995 there were 556 recorded cases of rapes in the country. With a slight decrease it was 525 in the year 1996, and the number seems shooting up again in 1997. In this year, within Just three months, from January to March, there were 140 recorded cases of rape and In March alone the number of rapes committed stood at 50.
More and more such cases are coming into the open now. As reported in a section of the press on 11th May. Salam (13) raped by the son of a BDR personnel in Jhumjhumpur area of Jessore was awarded 50 stripes through a village arbitration council headed by one Shahja-han member. Appallingly, this punishment was executed by a young boy of the area. The local thana, it Is learnt, refused to record the complaint of rape despite all entreaties by Salma's relatives. Shockingly, the same
"fatwa people are again active now.
The bestiality of a human rapist, as reported in a section of the press on 8th May shames every human being on earth. Mohsin, a human-beast of Feni raped a 4-year old child on 21st March last. The father of the child, unable to bear the shock fainted and ultimately died on 29th March, the report published in the media says. Another report appearing in the dailies suggest that Shilpi (13). a helpless daughter of a day labourer of Bakerkanda village of Sherpur was raped by one Biplob of the same locality. It is further alleged that medical examination of Shilpi had been delayed by four days due to interference of influential quarters.
Another report published on 12th May in the dailies indicate that one Mohabbat Ali (50). a religious teacher in the Shahinbagh Area of the city raped one Suraiya (13). a housemaid. for three consecutive nights while his wife was away from the house.
Ominously, all these reports and scores of others that do not
reach the media suggest that the countiy is experiencing almost a total breakdown of law and order. The failing economy and growing poverty in the villages are driving marginal citizens and unemployed youths into crime mostly of violent nature. Quite frequently, the role of law enforcing agencies has been questioned and their inaction has only fueled the criminal activities. The stunning wave of crime makes people wonder whether this is a price they want to pay after so much of trials and tribulations they suffered during the last two decades of misrule'. In recent times, sexual harassment, molestation and violence on women have taken a new dimension perhaps dirtiest and most heinous that people could have ever imagined. Lastly the rape victim is done to death either by burning or by acid throwing or by poisoning her food. Parul who was residing in a slum of the Mohammadpur area was doused with oil and then burnt to death. Sheema while in police custody in Chittagong Jail was killed by poisoning of her food.
Shockingly, the existing laws do not go very much in favour of the victim. Most of the cases, if instituted, end up being a tortuous process with hardly any protection and support coming from any quarters.
However, in our country in recent times the bold stand taken by the women's organisation "Nari Pakkho" in putting a halt to all these barbarous crimes and to help these traumatised victims resume a somewhat normal life torn to pieces for no fault of their own. is a laudable venture. People would not have any reservation in thanking this valiant organisation for the way they rescued some young girls from a brothel in the city in the recent past.
In recent times, troubles mostly started with the women workers in business houses and garment factories to respond to co-worker's and boss' sexual advances. In most cases women worker's refusal to respond to such overtures land them to victimisation in the form of termination of employment, withholding of salaries and benefits, and curtailment of
leave or forcing them to work extra-hours beyond office timing and regulations. Most victims would rather not approach the courts and are left vrith a little choice, since in most cases no action Is taken to redress the grievances of the women victims.
If and when the victim or her parents have gone to court, that seems to be a perilous Journey, an inordinately long judicial procedure dragging on for years. And the time and money these cases have extracted from the victims have made a mockery of justice. Now in the backdrop of the rising number of rape cases where women are silent victims, it has become necessary that all legal processes that want to institute an enquiry must comprise a woman member to look into the grievances of women victims with sufficient powers to take legal action. Understandably, when the rapist or the harassor is a superior at the office or an influential or affluent person In the society and the victim's parent or husband is economically weak or out of employment or when the victim is a
widow, economic compulsions compel women to sweep their cases under the carpet.
In recent times, brutality and violence by policemen against women is becoming dis-turbingly frequent. Yasmin was allegedly raped and killed by some policemen in Dlnajpur in 1995 and in recent time Sheema's case in Chittagong was presented in the dailies as a floating prostitute to cover up the barbarity committed by the policemen. In an effort to destroy all forensic evidences the dead body of Sheema was cremated in hot haste. People are now questioning if the guarantor of public security is fast becoming a threat to civilised norms.
In most cases after an incident becomes public, the authorities, in an effort to defuse public outcry, takes some action that means "closing" the offending member for a short time. Presumably, the penalty goes no further and that means only repetition of the dastardly acts after a time-gap. People only hope that all such cases shall be probed with all seriousness covering the due processes of law and the guilty should be brought to justice. That measure would only pave the way for the growth of a civil society that the present democratic government professes to establish in the country.