Wednesday | 15 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Wednesday | 15 January 2025 | Epaper

Stop sexual violence against women   

Published : Saturday, 26 October, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 339
Nandini Luiza
There exists a negative crosswise to the word rape, which has made the whole world thoughtful at the moment. There is no civilized country left in the world where female citizens are not being raped. The way children and women are being tortured in the civilized world; it has really made the world worried about.  

There are human rights organizations in the world, they are also unable to treasure the right scheme to eradicate this problem, therefore the ramifications of this heinous phenomenon are spreading so significantly. This aspect is disquieting the whole world.

Here I want to say something about two things, the first one is the image of rape in my country Bangladesh and the second one is its remedy. First it is necessary to know about rape. We have not been able to properly explain this to everyone, even it is not easy to understand its terrible aspects.

Rape is a crime in which a person is forced or intimidated to have sexual intercourse without their consent. It is a very serious, moral and legal offence. Though sex is a natural method of reproduction but in many cases, it is done to provide emotional love and physical satisfaction between people. Actually, sexual relations are necessary to be consensual and imitate to the rules of law and morality.

Now we want to highlight the image of rape in Bangladesh. Rape is a growing social problem in Bangladesh. About 10 out of every 100,000 women in Bangladesh are victims of rape. In this case if we want to see data which was done in 2021, we found that about 30,272 cases have been filed with Women and Child Abuse Prevention Tribunal. 

According to human rights organizations, 1413 women were raped in 2019. In 2018, this number was 732, which means that the number of rape cases increased twice last year compared to the previous year. Again in 2017, 818 women were raped. In 2019, 76 women were killed after rape and 10 women were forced to commit suicide, and the incidents of gang rape in Bangladesh is continuing for a long time.  

Incidents of such crimes are increasing alarmingly day by day. We are living in an environment that has made us worried not only about ourselves but also about the society and the state. We want to destroy the root of this. We should not just point out the problem and go away with some theoretical solutions, but we should have to take constructive and well-defined measures to eliminate rape, and not only women and children but every human being should have a safe life. 

This issue of rape in Bangladesh appeared in a prominent form during the Covid 19 pandemic. 
During this period, people were forced to live indoor most of time due to having no external work. As a result, it has been seen that, the number of rape victims have been the highest during this pandemic. Due to this, people have become physically and mentally disturbed, the tendency of suicide has increased and the unbalanced life became a frightening picture in the society.

In this regard, we need to think about the psychological aspect and take necessary actions. Not only that, it is our duty to take suitable steps to improve family ties. Some measures are necessary to ensure the safety of people. Many things happen here that we cannot bring into psychological thinking. We need to increase our psychological awareness and take immediate steps to increase mental excellence. 

According to Dhaka Metropolitan Police, 2043 rape cases were registered in the capital from March to August this year. Thirteen of them are gang rape victims. There were 46 rape cases in March, 12 in April, 15 in May, 46 in June, 53 in July and 58 in August. Various organizations make rape statistics based on the number of cases published in newspapers. In reality this number is much higher. 

Many times, victims do not open their mouths about rape due to fear of public shame, fear of people, and many times it is seen that many cases of rape are not accepted in the police stations. Rather, the litigant is threatened with various forms of intimidation. 

As a result, the picture we get is not the exact image, it is an approximation. We have also came to know that, all types of violence against women, especially family violence, have taken a different dimension during the Corona period. Violence against children and disabled women and cases of rape have also increased. 

Analyzing the various incidents, it is seen that, the women were raped and killed by trapping them in different ways. Many have been inhumanely tortured - later raped and killed by false lures of employment or well-paying jobs abroad, lures of marriage and friendships to gain trust.

Every day, there is news of rape on various social media. Rape has become a social part of today's society. Every day there is rape in some place. We have to find a way to stop rape. Not only by search, but we should also have to find a way to solve it. 

Most rape cases in Bangladesh go unpunished. Among all the cases of violence against women including rape in Bangladesh, offenders in maximum four to five percent of these cases are punished and if only rape is calculated, this rate will be much less. 

Under the Prevention of Violence against Women and Children Act, the maximum punishment for rape was life imprisonment. Several high-profile incidents of rape and torture of women in Bangladesh led to an anti-rape and torture movement across the country. 

The movement demanded death penalty for rape. As a result, on October 13, 2020, the Women and Child Abuse Suppression Amendment Ordinance was signed, keeping the death penalty as the maximum punishment for rape.

So, if rape is not brought down to zero level  in Bangladesh, the family, society and the state will be held accountable. Keeping this in mind, necessary steps should be taken to stop violence against women and to ensure the rights of women and children.

The writer is a contributor  


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