& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Violence Against Domestic Helps

Most accused go unpunished as victims fail to pursue cases

AMENA KHATUN
A little mistake made Farida's life a misery Now people don't want to employ her as a domestic help since she got badly disfigured after her employer poured hot oil on her face about a year ago.
The eight-year-old girl worked as a domestic help at the house of Bithi Khandaker at Munshiganj. Bithi got enraged and poured hot oil on Farida because she mistakenly fried three dry chillies instead of two as asked for by Bithi.
.Although a case was lodged against Bithi with the local police in this connection, she finally managed to go unpunished bv settling the issue out of court. She paid Tk 5000 as compensation to the victim's family members.
Lake Farida, most victims of torture do not receive justice as their families cannot afford to carry on legal battle due to poverty.
On the other hand, die accused manage to setde such matters out of court as
they generally belong to well-off section.
According to a survey of Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS), a total of 542 cases of violence against domestic workers were filed during the period from 2003 to 2006 and 70 percent of them were settled through negotiations.
Sultan Uddin Ahmed, assistant executive director of BILS, said most of the cases were settled by payment of compensation ranging from TklO.OOO and 15,000.
"If the government appoints a person in the local administration to pursue such cases, the offenders would not be able to go unpunished, which will help curb violence against domestic workers," he said.
The public prosecutors should also come forward to pursue such cases, he added.
"At the same time, the media and the non-government organisations should follow up such incidents to draw the attention of the government so that they take stern action against the culprits," he
suggested.
According to another study of the organisation based on reports published in different dailies from 2001 to 2008, a total of 640 domestic helps fell victim to domestic violence and 305 of them died.
Also. 235 domestic workers were injured, 77 were raped and 23 went missing during the period, the study said.
Farida Yasmin, deputy director of Bangladesh Legal Aid and Service TYust (BLAST), said most victims fail to pursue their cases due to poverty while most accused take this opportunity to go unpunished.
"As the accused are influential people in most cases, the victims want to settle the issue in exchange for an amount of money," she observed.
Interestingly, the victims' families find it difficult to receive the compensation as the mediators take away the money in most cases, she added.
She also said the government should provide legal aid to the victims so that they can pursue their cases.