Incidents of ghastly sexual violence against women and children have increased due to low rate of conviction for rape, say rights activists and police sources.
Faulty investigation into the rape case and exertion of political influence on investigation to save rapists are also to blame for the rise in the number of rape incidents, said Supreme Court lawyer Tanvir Ahmed on Wednesday.
Delayed delivery of justice is also another reason behind the rise in rape incidents, said Tanvir, also known as public interest litigation petitioner.
He stressed the need for strengthening legal procedure to ensure justice for the victims.
A report published this month by 'Bangladesh Mahila Parishad shows that 731 women and children were raped in the first six months of 2019 while the whole 2018 saw 942 recorded cases of rapes.
Many high official of the police headquarters told The Daily Observer on Wednesday the law enforcement agencies were working to arrest the offenders but they had nothing to do with judicial matters.
They, however, blamed unemployment and drug addictions for the rise in the number of rapes and sexual violence.
However, law formulation is not sufficient to reduce violence against children despite having provisions like death sentence in a rape case, police source said.
One of the aims of establishing laws is to deter perpetrators from repeating same offense, they said.
Even children are also not spared nowadays. They are increasingly becoming victims of sexual brutality.
A report released by the Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF), a Dhaka-based child rights organization, revealed that at least 496 children were raped in Bangladesh during the first six months of 2019. The figure included 23 cases where children, after being raped, were murdered by the perpetrators and 53 incidents where they were subjected to gang rape.
The Manusher Jonno Foundation, another local rights group, published a report early this year saying 433 children were raped in 2018. Most were aged between seven and 12, it said.
A few days back police arrested a madrasa head for reportedly raping a child in Fatulla and two high school teachers in the central industrial town of Narayanganj for reportedly raping 20 students.
On an average, more than three women were raped every day in the last six months in the country, says rights body Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK).
At least 630 women were raped and 37 of them killed after rape. Seven others killed themselves after they were raped.
There were also rape attempts on 105 others, it said citing media reports. The number of rape victims was 427 in the same period last year, according to ASK. Rights activists and psychologists said diminishing social values and religious practices, easy availability of porn, and a culture of impunity were the primary reasons behind the rising of rape incidents.
Children were targeted in particular because they could resist the least and could be intimidated easily, they said, and urged parents to make their children aware of the danger. According to police statistics, 20,835 cases have been filed on charge of rape since 2014. Of the rape cases, 1,538 were filed between January 1 and April 30 in 2019 taking to 12.81 the number of rape incidents reported on an average in a day.
On an average, 10.57 rape cases were filed in a day in five years between 2014 and 2018 as the number of the filing of rape cases was 3,949 in 2018, 3,995 in 2017, 3,728 in 2016, 3,930 in 2015 and 3,695 in 2014.
Police sources said 7,343 rape cases were filed and 1,194 cases were disposed of with conviction in 140 cases in 2013-2017.
Officials in the Criminal Investigation Department and the police headquarters said girls and women of 15-30 age groups were the major victims of rape while 'gang-rape' in most of the cases was committed in revenge.
The police officials blamed lack of social safety network and social bonding within the community for the situation.
Prison officials could not share the updated information over the number of rape suspects in jails but prison population statistics showed 1,009 rape suspects were detained in jails as of June 30, 2016.
According to the statistics, there were 575 convicts serving sentences for rape as of June 30, 2016.
